More to bulk billing rates

Answers to Senate Estimates questions released this week revealed that while 89.2 per cent of patients had at least one bulk billed GP visit during the year, 80.7 per cent had 50 per cent or more of their GP visits bulk billed and only 64.7 per cent of patients had all their GP visits bulk billed.

The official bulk billing statistics count GP services as opposed to providing an analysis of individual visits to a GP. This highlights that when individual visits to a GP are examined, out of pocket costs are more common than the headline bulk billing rate would suggest. It is important to note that for those patients who are paying an out of pocket cost when they see a GP, these have doubled in the last ten years.