Medicare Boost: More Doctors, Bigger Payments Nationwide

Australians and their GPs in dozens of communities around Australia will soon get more support from Medicare, with larger bulk billing incentives or a wider pool of doctors to recruit from, thanks to an update to classification systems. Thirty-four communities across Australia will benefit from these changes, including Murwillumbah in NSW, Maroochydore and Noosa in Queensland, and Mount Barker in South Australia, among others.

Under the Modified Monash Model (MMM) classification system, locations are classified into one of seven categories according to Census data, from 'metropolitan' to 'regional', 'rural' to 'very remote', with the value of Medicare payments and aged care supports increasing the more remote an area gets.

The classification also has implications for workforce recruitment, with non-metropolitan areas automatically granted the ability to recruit from a wider pool of doctors than city areas, under what is known as Distribution Priority Area (DPA) status. To provide Medicare services, overseas-educated doctors must spend their first ten years practising medicine outside of major cities and metropolitan areas, which means regional and rural communities with DPA status can draw from a wider pool of doctors.

Classifications are reviewed periodically as new data is released. This update incorporates the latest Census data, which was paused while an independent review into the classification system was underway.

As the Government works through its response to the independent review, the Albanese Labor Government has approved a 'no losers' update to the MMM and DPA classifications, in line with the latest Census and workforce data from the Department of Health and Aged Care. This will see 34 communities unlock greater support from Medicare, while ensuring no community receives less support.

Seventeen locations will soon be classified as more remote and will receive larger bulk billing incentives. In November 2023, the Albanese Government tripled the bulk billing incentive for those who need to see their GP most often: pensioners, concession cardholders, and families with kids and young teenagers. The more remote a GP practice is, the larger the incentives.

Locations that change from 'metropolitan' to 'regional' classification - like Murwillumbah in the Northern Rivers of NSW - will benefit from a significant increase in Medicare payments. In those areas, the Medicare payment for a standard consultation with an eligible patient will soon be $11.15 - almost 20 per cent - higher, increasing from $64.20 to $75.35 per visit.

In addition, 17 communities will soon benefit from having their DPA status expanded, meaning general practices in GP catchment areas like Maroochy and Noosa on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, or Mount Barker in South Australia will find it easier to recruit and keep doctors.

The Australian health system added one new doctor every hour last year, on average, with an extra 17,000 doctors registering to practise in the last two years - more than at any time in the past decade.

The boom in new doctors is driven by record numbers of overseas-educated doctors moving to Australia, with 5,431 such doctors registering to practise in the past financial year, 80% more than registered in 2018-19, the last year before COVID.

In October 2024, the Albanese Government began to fast-track GPs from the UK, Ireland and New Zealand - countries with equally high standards of training and comparable health systems - to have their qualifications recognised in as little as 1-3 months.

Since then, six times as many GPs applied to join our health system between October 2024 and January 2025 than applied a year ago.

In just four months, 326 new GPs applied to practise medicine and build a life in rural or regional Australia, with around half (146 new GPs) coming through the new fast-track pathway - six times more than the 55 GPs that applied in the same period a year earlier.

A full list of the classification changes is below.

Quotes attributable to Minister Butler:

"At this election Australia faces a choice: a stronger Medicare with bulk billing for all Australians under Labor, or more cuts to Medicare under Peter Dutton's Liberals.

"Labor will continue the strongest workforce recovery in memory, with more doctors and nurses than ever before and the largest GP training program in Australian history.

"Labor is delivering more bulk billing, more doctors and more Urgent Care Clinics.

"Whether your family needs urgent or ongoing health care, under Labor, Medicare will be there for all Australians, in every community."

* An area's MMM classification has flow-on implications for DPA status, with MM2-7 areas automatically granted DPA status. Note some of these areas already hold DPA status.

** The DPA statuses for these areas have been updated based on the most recent Department of Health and Aged Care data on outer metropolitan areas with lower levels of GP services, compared with a benchmark level. This includes considering data on the level of Medicare billed GP services patients received for the latest calendar year; and the demographics of the community, including age, gender, and socio-economic status.