Over five million additional bulk-billed doctor appointments were created in the last year, according to new Medicare data.
The federal government said its “record investment to strengthen Medicare ” has created an additional 103,000 bulk-billed visits to the GP every week, or 5.4 million, since November 2023.
Of the visits, 2.2 million were in rural or regional areas.
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The increase comes after the federal government made its largest investment in bulk billing in Medicare history, targeting families with children under 16, pensioners, and concession card holders.
The data revealed 90 per cent of GP visits with children under 16 were bulk billed in the past year.
Every state and territory now has more bulk billing, with the largest rise in some states that have historically struggled with lower rates of bulk billing.
To support the increase, 87 Medcare Urgent Care Clinics were funded and opened, and more than 17,000 new doctors were added to the health system over two years.
The number of Australians visiting their GPs has also increased in the past 12 months, with a 1.2 percentage point increase overall.
Minister for Health Mark Butler said while Medicare had been strengthened, more doctors and bulk billing were needed.
“Although we’re not out of the woods yet and there is a lot of work still to do, we are seeing things turn around in those areas that we need,” he said
“We’ve got more doctors, we’ve got more bulk billing, and we’ve got Urgent Care Clinics that have already seen more than 850,000 patients, all fully bulk billed.”