Media reports that tonight’s Federal Budget will announce capped Medicare patient rebates at $36 a visit, lends itself to a spiral of harmful consequences that will further contribute to a reduction in access to affordable healthcare for all Australians.
General practitioners (GPs) are one of the most efficient parts of the healthcare system seeing approximately 81% of the Australian population in any one year and providing 129.5 million general practice services through the MBS during that time1.
However this efficiency in the provision of high quality healthcare is only possible if general practices are enabled to run viable practices as small business owners.
Dr Liz Marles, RACGP President said “Put simply, if the Government announces a freeze on MBS patient rebates as part of tonight’s Federal Budget, both patients and the general practice profession will suffer as a result.”
“Patients will be faced with additional out-of-pocket expenses as GPs struggle to meet associated running costs of their practice. This will particularly affect certain individuals, many of whom are elderly, who rely on bulk-billing in order to receive continuous, comprehensive care over a number of regular consultations.
“The other alternative if MBS services are capped is that GPs will be forced to absorb the costs in order to continue offering bulk-billing services that enable accessible healthcare for all,” Dr Marles said.
Australia has the fifth highest out-of-pocket healthcare costs in the world with the average Australian paying $1075 per year in out-of-pocket expenses.2
Patients are increasingly delaying seeing their GP due to financial reasons. A recent report showed that around 8% of patients that needed to see a GP in the previous 12 months had delayed seeing or had not seen one because of the cost.3
“MBS fees have not kept pace with inflation in the past 20 years, and as such, need to be reviewed to address this as soon as possible,” Dr Marles said.
References
- Medicare Australia, General Practice Workforce Statistics 1984-2012. Viewed 13 May 2013 at http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/General+Practice+Statistics-1
- Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2012. Health expenditure Australia 2010–11. Health and welfare expenditure series no. 47. Cat. no. HWE 56. Canberra: AIHW.
- Patient Experiences in Australia: Summary of findings, 2010 -2011. General Practitioners, Medical Specialists and, Dental Specialists. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4839.0Main+Features12010-11?OpenDocument
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