People living in Gilmore have saved more than $8 million on cheaper scripts over the past 12 months and there have been an additional 61,000 bulk billed GP visits in the electorate during that time.

Federal Member for Gilmore Fiona Phillips said on November 1, 2023, the Albanese Government made the largest investment in bulk billing in Medicare history, targeted to families with children under 16, pensioners and concession card holders.

“Our investments in bulk billing mean more Gilmore residents are getting bulk billed visits at the GP than they were last year,” she said.

“It’s great that families with children under 16, pensioners and concession cardholders have seen the greatest increase in bulk billing.”

Gilmore patients have accessed 875,957 cheaper scripts and 93,997 60-day scripts in the last year saving $8,120,196. Bulk billed GP visits have increased by 61,898.

Across the country, the federal government’s record investment to strengthen Medicare has created an additional 5.4 million additional bulk billed visits since November last year, or 103,000 extra bulk billed visits every week on average.

Australians have saved $1 billion on the cost of their medicines thanks to our government cutting the cost of medicines, lowering the Safety Net threshold and introducing 60-day scripts.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) called the investment a “game changer” and for the past 12 months, doctors said it has given them the confidence and support they need to bulk bill more often, after a decade of cuts and neglect to Medicare.

A survey of thousands of doctors released by the RACGP last month reported that more doctors say they are bulk billing more of their patients, more of the time.

Families with children under 16, pensioners and concession card holders are now bulk billed much more often: 90.0 per cent of GP visits with children under 16 were bulk billed in the past year.

These 11 million Australians are the patients that see their GP most often: they make up 40 per cent of the population and account for 60 per cent of GP visits, on average.

The historic investment in bulk billing builds on other ways the Albanese Government is strengthening Medicare to make health care more affordable and available:

• Made the largest boost to Medicare rebates in decades, increasing rebates by more in two years than the former government did in nine years.
• Funding and opening 87 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, so Australians can walk in and get bulk billed urgent care, seven days a week, open early to late, without waiting hours in a busy hospital emergency department.
• Added more than 17,000 new doctors to the health system in two years, delivering the most new doctors in more than a decade.
• Boosted the number of doctors training to become GPs by almost 25%, with the Government fully funding the training of 4,800 new GPs between 2023 and 2025.
• Made medicines cheaper, saving Australians $1 billion by cutting the cost of medicines, lowering the Safety Net threshold and 60-day prescriptions.

Federal Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler said, “Medicare is for all Australians and Labor is the Party of Medicare, always”.

“Labor introduced Medicare 40 years ago and we have defended and strengthened it ever since,” he added.

“We know we have more work to do to restore bulk billing after a decade of cuts from Peter Dutton and the Liberals.”

Mrs Phillips said the Batemans Bay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic (UCC) continued to provide free, close-to-home urgent care that is bulk billed under Medicare.

“The most common presentations recorded at the Batemans Bay Medicare UCC have been for conditions such as upper respiratory tract infection, ear infection and urinary tract infections,” she said.

“More than half the presentations to the Batemans Bay Hospital were for semi-urgent or non-urgent conditions, so the UCC is now taking a lot of pressure off the hospital and local GPs,” she said.

Mrs Phillips said the free South-Eastern NSW Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Clinic at the Milton Medical Centre was also providing women from Helensburgh to the Victorian Border with expert, multidisciplinary care.

Photo: Federal Member for Gilmore Fiona Phillips and Federal Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler at the Batemans Bay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic.

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Katrina Condie: 0437 662 967