The federal government says its move to triple the incentive paid to GP's who bulk bill certain patients is paying off. New figures show an extra 360,000 trips to doctors were fully covered by medicare since funding was boosted in November. But many patients are still struggling to see a doctor.
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00:00 In November, the government tripled the incentives for GPs who are bulk billing children under
00:07 16, pensioners and concession card holders in an attempt to make bulk billing more affordable
00:13 for doctors. Now, the government says 360,000 extra bulk billed appointments were claimed
00:19 in the first two months alone. That's a 2% increase nationally. We did hear from Health
00:25 Minister Mark Butler who says those figures were even higher in areas with previously
00:30 low rates, particularly disadvantaged and regional areas recording some of the highest
00:36 rates. We did hear from the President of the Australian Medical Association, Steve Robson.
00:41 He says while this is having a positive impact, more investment is needed in Medicare overall.
00:47 Here's what he had to say.
00:49 We know that for decades, successive governments have neglected Medicare and it really has
00:54 fallen into disrepair. It's going to take a lot of work, a big commitment and it's going
00:59 to take investment to bring Medicare back to where we think it should be and make healthcare
01:04 accessible and affordable for all Australians. And one of the problems is at the moment,
01:10 general practice has been so neglected, young doctors don't want to be general practitioners.
01:15 So we're hoping that these incentives will make that an attractive career path again.
01:19 We'll have more GPs training and that will ease pressure on the system and allow Australians
01:24 to get the care they need.
01:27 Now the Consumers Health Forum says Australians who don't qualify for this scheme are finding
01:32 it really hard to find a doctor and that the cost is making many miss out. And they also
01:39 say that while this is having a positive impact in particularly regional areas, they're still
01:43 not seeing that trickle into metropolitan areas.
01:47 [BLANK_AUDIO]