A tweet by Labor Senator Kristina Keneally claims that, under the Morrison government, out-of-pocket costs to visit a GP are up by 25 per cent and out-of-pocket costs to visit a specialist are up by 40 per cent due to the Medicare freeze.

Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia Josh Frydenberg claims bulk billing rates have increased since the Coalition came to power, from an average of 79 per cent of services to 85 per cent.

When sick, the doctor is the first port of call for most Australians. In 2009-10 one in five visits to a GP resulted in extra fees over and above the Medicare scheduled fee. An estimated $557 million extra were paid for these visits. While the government encourages GPs to charge the scheduled fee (known as...

Patricia Apps, Ray Rees and Elizabeth Savage analyse the Howard government's recent Medicare reform. {C} Using models of the physician's behaviour and of a household's demand for medical insurance under the proposed system, they argue that those most likely to be made worse off are low income households with children, though a full evaluation of...

Thia report documents the decline in bulk billing rates, the increase in copayments, and the decrease in people visiting GPs for each Victorian federal electorate. It also documents the level of socioeconomic disadvantage and wellbeing for each Victorian federal electorate and for each Victorian local government area. The report was released by a coalition of...