Fact Check: If bulk-billing is up, are costs for patients down?

And does that mean more patients are visiting GPs without having to pay?He has the numbers right, but it does not necessarily follow that an increase in bulk-billing means fewer patients face out-of-pocket costs when seeing their GP.

Experts told Fact Check that this meant Mr Hunt was conflating a rise in the bulk-billing rate with a decrease in the number of patients paying out-of-pocket costs, for which data is limited. "It is predicted that if growth in the bulk-billing rate continues to slow at the same rate, the bulk-billing rate will decline by 2019–20."In the Health of the Nation report, the RACGP explains that the bulk-billing rate refers to the percentage of medical services in Australia that are bulk-billed.

"Therefore, while it is true that 86.1 per cent of general practice services are bulk-billed, the proportion of patients fully bulk-billed is actually much lower." Margaret Faux, a lawyer specialising in Medicare and health law, told Fact Check there was"no correlation" between high bulk-billing rates and fewer individual people paying out-of-pocket.

Not in my experience. My gp raised consultation fee and now I’m $60 out of pocket each visit.

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