Pocket pain for visiting doctor

SOME GPs are charging patients $120 for a standard consultation as the out of pocket costs to see a doctor soar.

A new analysis of GP charges by website Mind the Gap has found at least six inner city Sydney clinics slugging patients more than $100 for a consultation and one GP is charging $120.

That is 50 per cent more than the $81 charge the AMA recommends.

Health Minister Greg Hunt is upbeat that the latest Medicare data shows the number of GP services that are bulk billed at no charge to the patient has risen to record levels of 84.7 per cent.

However, the number of services that are bulk billed is not the same as the number of patients that are bulk billed.

Health department data shows one in three patients are not bulk billed by their GP and the latest Medicare data shows these patients are paying on average over $36 out of their own pocket to see a doctor after they receive their Medicare rebate.

A Mind the Gap survey of over 200 GP clinics in and around Sydney in December found the gaps were even larger – over $62 at six clinics in Sydney and $82 in the highest charging clinic.

The out of pocket costs are partly due to the government’s four-year freeze on Medicare rebates and to above inflation fee rises by doctors.

Medicare rebates rose 55 cents in July, from $37 to $37.55, the first increase in four years, but News Corp can reveal the AMA recommended GPs raise their fees by $2 on November 1 to $81.

“The indexation of Medicare was a step in the right direction. However, the increase in average private fees above the indexation indicates that it wasn’t adequate to cover rising practice costs for GPs which were then passed on to patients,” said Mind the Gap

THE INCREASE IN AVERAGE PRIVATE FEES ABOVE THE INDEXATION INDICATES THAT IT WASN’T ADEQUATE JAMES GILLESPIE.

founder James Gillespie.

The AMA’s recommended 2.5 per cent fee rise is nearly 50 per cent higher than the 1.9 per cent inflation rate.

Australian Medical Association president Dr Tony Bartone defended the rise and said health funds had been granted a premium rise of 3.25 per cent and the Wage Price Index for Australia from September 2017 to September 2018 was 2.2 per cent. Doctors faced rising rental and wage costs, he said.

Opposition health spokeswoman Catherine King said the rising costs have driven up the number of people at hospital emergency departments and led 660,000 people to skip seeing a doctor.