Our advocacy has put the critical importance of general practice care in the spotlight. The government has committed to strengthening Medicare for the first time in decades, and the Health Minister has repeatedly said that there’s no higher priority than rebuilding general practice.
To help GPs and patients across Australia, we’ve secured:
- $5.7 billion for strengthening Medicare, increasing from the $750 million we secured from the Labor government last year.
- $1.5 billion for MBS indexation (There will be two hikes in the Medicare rebate for GPs this year, which will lift it from $39.75 to $41.40 by the end of the year).
- Tripling the bulk-billing incentive - $3.5 billion boost over 5 years.
- 30% increase in the Workforce Incentive Program to enable practices to grow multidisciplinary care teams within general practice. This increases the maximum payment to $130,000 per practice.
- Reinstating Medicare rebates for longer telehealth phone consultations from November 1st, tied to patients registered to MyMedicare.
- $112 funding for a general practice in aged care incentive payment to better support GPs caring for people in aged care.
- More funding for GPs to open after-hours and meet patient needs.
- $220 million in grants for practices to improve infrastructure and services for patients.
- Read our full breakdown of the 2023 Budget measures for general practice here.