Bulk billing is a payment option under the Medicare system of universal health insurance in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It can cover a prescribed range of health services as listed in the Medicare Benefits Schedule, at the discretion of the health service provider. The health service provider - usually a

doctor Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

- is paid 85% of the scheduled fee for outpatient services; and 75% of the scheduled fee for inpatient services, by billing the government via the patient's Medicare card. Bulk billing rebates may be collected and paid directly to the service provider, or the service provider may collect the equivalent fee from the patient, leaving the patient to claim the rebate online, over the telephone, by mail, or at a Medicare office. Increasingly, service providers offer electronic lodgement at the practice using

EFTPOS Electronic funds transfer at point of sale, abbreviated as EFTPOS (), is a type of payment transaction in which electronic funds transfers (EFT) are processed at a point of sale (POS) system or payment terminal usually via payment methods such as ...

. Under Medicare, it is not permissible to charge the patient a co-payment with bulk billing (although this was previously permissible); a service provider who bulk bills for a service may not charge the patient further for that service.

Decline in bulk billing

Service providers may choose whether or not to use bulk billing. In January 2023, it was reported that only 42.7% of general practitioners bulk billed, while outside of Sydney and Melbourne less than a third bulk billed. In the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

and

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

, only 5% and 6.9% of GPs bulk billed respectively. The key purpose of bulk billing is to provide an economic constraint on medical fees and charges. To address the decline in bulk billing, the Australian Medical Association (AMA) called on the

federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

to revise indexation to ensure rebates better reflect the rising costs of providing medical care and running a practice, which it says would encourage more GPs to bulk-bill. The president of the AMA said that "the average government contribution to Medicare claims have fallen in real terms by more than 5 per cent over the past two decades, placing significant cost pressures on doctors."

2014 co-payment proposal

In the 2014 Australian federal budget, the

Abbott government The Abbott government was the federal executive government of Australia led by the 28th Prime Minister Tony Abbott. The government was made up of members of the Liberal–National Coalition. The Leader of The Nationals, Warren Truss, served ...

proposed to impose a $7

co-payment A patient's copayment or copay is the patient's share of the cost for goods or services rendered, with the other share ("co" = with) paid by the patient's insurance company. The patient's co-payment is usually paid directly to the provider, but is ...

for all bulk billed GP and medical test visits. The proposal was to reduce the medicare rebate payable to service providers by $5 (which applies to all consultations, and not just bulk billed ones) with the additional $2 paid by patients also going to providers. The proposal was widely criticised. In March 2015, the Health Minister

Sussan Ley Sussan Penelope Ley (pron. , "Susan Lee"; ; born 14 December 1961) is an Australian politician who is the current Leader of the Opposition (Australia), Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal ...

announced that "we are not pursuing it at all" with Prime Minister

Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is an Australian former politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia and was the member of parli ...

declaring the co-payment was "dead, buried and cremated".Sydney Morning Herald, 3 March 2015
Abbott government scraps GP co-payment
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulk Billing Medicare Australia