Albanese government's bulk billing changes are good but could be better

Thousands of Tasmanians will now find it easier to access affordable healthcare as bulk billing incentives triple for children, pensioners, and concession card holders. These changes, which began on November 1, significantly increase the incentives for GPs to bulk bill vulnerable patients, particularly children, pensioners, and concession card holders.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) welcomed the changes, viewing them as a positive step to provide cost-of-living relief to Australians and improve access to healthcare.

The key points of the changes include:

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said the changes were the most significant investment in bulk billing in the 40-year history of Medicare.

"This will benefit over 281,000 people in Tasmania," Mr Butler said.

"In a regional centre like Launceston, a doctor will get 46 per cent more for a standard bulk-billed consultation of under 20 minutes (a Level B consultation), taking the Medicare payment for eligible patients to $72.80."

In anyone's language, that is a good thing. It would take the most negative of Nelly's to say these changes are bad.

However, not all experts and healthcare professionals are satisfied with these changes. Australian Medical Association (AMA) Tasmania president Dr John Saul said while he was glad to see the changes come into effect, he is worried they were "too little, too late".

Dr Saul claims the changes will most definitely benefit disadvantaged and remote areas, but they may not significantly help a large portion of the population, mainly middle-class Australians.

There is a concern among some doctors that the changes do not address the fundamental issues with bulk billing, such as the constant erosion of bulk billing payments to doctors over the past 30 years mainly instigated by federal Liberal governments.

The chronic underfunding of Medicare in the last decade has led to a system that has not kept pace with rising healthcare costs, leading to a shift toward private billing in some healthcare practices.

While these changes may encourage some general practitioners to maintain or shift back to bulk billing, they may not have a significant impact on those practices that have already moved to private billing for healthcare cardholders.

These claims are all true, but we can't allow these bulk billing changes to be sullied by negativity because they are imperfect.

The changes to bulk billing incentives in Australia are a step in the right direction to improve access to healthcare for vulnerable patients. The broader issues in the healthcare system and the concerns of middle-class Australians have a better chance of getting addressed if general practitioners embrace these changes. Our medical practitioners and the general public who visit them should take advantage of them, try to make them work as well as possible, but campaign for them to be improved upon. After all, the insistence on perfection often prevents the implementation of good improvements, and these are good improvements to our health system.

Craig Thomson is the editor of The Examiner.