A re-elected Albanese Labor Government will make the single largest investment in Medicare since its creation over 40 years ago, with $8.5 billion to deliver an additional 18 million bulk billed GP visits each year, hundreds of nursing scholarships and thousands more doctors in the largest GP training program ever.
Australian patients and families will save hundreds of dollars a year in out-of-pocket costs, with patient savings of $859 million a year by 2030.
Labor's record investment restores the $8.3 billion the Australian Medical Association says was cut from Medicare through the funding freeze initiated by Peter Dutton a decade ago.
For the first time, Labor will expand bulk billing incentives to all Australians and create an additional new incentive payment for practices that bulk bill every patient.
This will mean 9 out of 10 GP visits will be bulk billed by 2030, boosting the number of fully bulk billed practices to around 4,800 nationally - triple the current number.
Labor will:
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Expand the bulk billing incentive to all Australians.
- Labor tripled the bulk billing incentive for people who need to see their GP most often: pensioners, concession cardholders, and families with children.
- That support has restored bulk billing for those 11 million Australians.
- From 1 November, Labor will expand that incentive to all Australians.
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Introduce a new incentive payment for practices that bulk bill every patient.
- From 1 November, a new Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program will support practices that bulk bill all their patients.
- On top of the bulk billing incentive, fully bulk billing practices will receive an additional 12.5% loading payment on their Medicare rebates.
- The combined investment means around 4,800 practices will be in a better financial position if they adopt full bulk billing.
Labor will deliver more doctors and nurses into Medicare, with 400 nursing scholarships and the largest GP training program in Australian history, funding the training of 2,000 new GP trainees a year by 2028.
Quotes attributable to the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese:
"Labor built Medicare, we will protect it and improve it for all Australians.
"I want every Australian to know they only need their Medicare card, not their credit card, to receive the healthcare they need.
"No Australian should have to check their bank balance to see if they can afford to see a doctor. That is not who we are. That is not the future we want for Australia.
"This is a policy that lifts up our entire nation and ensures no one is held back, and no one is left behind.
"It will make Medicare even stronger, help with cost of living pressures and ensure every Australian receives the best health care that they deserve."
Quotes attributable to Health Minister Mark Butler:
"No more wondering if you need to reach for your Medicare card or your credit card: Labor will put back into Medicare every dollar that Peter Dutton's rebate freeze took out.
"Australia's doctors voted Peter Dutton the worst Health Minister in Medicare history for a reason.
"Peter Dutton tried to end bulk billing with a GP tax and then started a six-year freeze to Medicare rebates that froze GP incomes and stripped billions out of Medicare.
"There is no question that when it comes to Medicare, you'll be worse off under Dutton."
