Australians could face the introduction of a GP co-payment by “stealth” as fewer practices are predicted to offer free “bulk-billing” services because of budget measures, doctors warn.
The budget made no changes to a freeze in Medicare rebate increases for doctor’s visits, which Australian Medical Association president Brian Owler said would result in additional costs having to be passed on to patients.
“We will see less bulk-billing and there is the possibility of seeing a co-payment by stealth, as has been alluded to by some,” he said.
The proposed GP co-payment plan, which would have added $5 to the cost of a consultation, was jettisoned by the Abbott government in March.
However, research published in the Medical Journal of Australia in March found that in 2017, GPs would have to introduce a $8.43 co-payment for non-concession consultations to offset the difference caused by the freeze.
The indexation freeze, which has been labelled a co-payment by stealth, came into effect in 2013. It will keep the Medicare rebate for GP visits at a static amount until 2018, precluding any increase in line with inflation.
“The implications are much more than a co-payment by stealth,” Associate Professor Owler said. “They are going to mean a lot more out-of-pocket expenses and it’s going to put a lot of pressure on people’s private health insurance premiums and their willingness to remain in private health.”
The Doctors Reform Society, a lobby group that supports publicly funded universal healthcare, said the freeze represented a salary cut to GPs and that if the costs were passed onto patients, it would mean people could die from not being able to afford care.
“This is a stealthy, underhanded way of introducing more and bigger co-payments, and it shows the completely uncaring attitude of this government towards the lives of ordinary Australians,” the lobby group’s vice-president, Tim Woodruff, said.
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Frank Jones said the freeze would impact on the quality of care doctors could provide.
He said the government needed to work with doctors on how to best fund general practice.
Victorian Healthcare Association acting chief executive Tom Symondson said he was concerned about any changes that would make GP care less affordable.
“It will have an immediate impact on our public health services because people who cannot afford a GP may well be presenting at their local hospital,” he said.
Federal health minister Sussan Ley has previously indicated she is open to reviewing the indexation freeze.
“As an article of good faith, I am open to a future review of the current indexation pause as work progresses to identify waste and inefficiencies in the system,” Ms Ley said last month.
Source: The Age