RACGP survey finds all GP care bulk-billed for 63% of Australians

Wright points to greater affordability; one-third still could not see a GP when needed

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners’ annual health of the nation report, due to be published Wednesday, measures general practice in three different ways. It includes a survey of 2,766 GPs; among the respondents, 26% said they bulk-billed all their patients, up from 12% in 2025. That rate describes surveyed GPs, rather than the share of patients whose care was bulk-billed.

On the patient side, the report found that 63% of Australians were bulk-billed for all their GP care, up from 56% in both 2024 and 2025. The 63% remained below the 70% of patients recorded in 2019.

Medicare administrative data provided a third, consultation-based rate: 81% of GP consultations were bulk-billed in 2025–26, up from 78% the previous year. Slawomirski said that figure differed from the RACGP’s because Medicare measures the proportion of services bulk-billed rather than the proportion of patients.

The report also drew on Australian Bureau of Statistics data showing that the proportion of Australians delaying GP care because of cost fell from 8.8% in 2023-24 to 7.7% in 2024-25. RACGP president Dr Michael Wright said the findings indicated “greater affordability across the healthcare system.”

Wright said, “For those patients who have a preferred GP, more than two-in-three were always able to see them when needed,” and described the results as positive: “These are positive outcomes and show that when governments invest in general practice, patients benefit. Funding gets results.”

Health economist Dr Luke Slawomirski of the Australia Institute said the bulk-billing findings were “certainly good news,” but noted that the survey represented about 7% of the GP workforce. “We should be mindful of possible selection bias and distinguish GPs’ reported experiences from administrative data and measures of patient outcomes,” he said. Slawomirski said a strong health system depends on more than just affordability and bulk-billing rates, with access, quality of care and patient outcomes also important. “We should judge the investment by whether people are healthier and receiving better care, rather than how many consultations are bulk-billed,” he said.

Slawomirski also identified “a sizeable access problem”: one-third of patients were unable to see a GP when they needed to.

Wright agreed that success cannot be measured solely by bulk-billing rates, saying “we can’t measure success solely by bulk-billing rates.” He warned: “There is a risk that inequities could emerge between communities if some patients continue facing higher out-of-pocket costs or reduced access to care,” he said. “This means improving affordability by ensuring Medicare patient rebates reflect the real costs of providing care for complex and chronic conditions.”

In November, the federal government introduced extra financial bonuses for practices that bulk-billed all eligible services for all Medicare patients. Those clinics received an additional 12.5% top-up payment, split between the practice and doctor. The RACGP said the rise in the patient rate was “likely a reflection of the federal government’s recent investment in Medicare bulk billing incentives.”

The RACGP is calling for increases to patient Medicare rebates for longer consultations and for the government to establish an independent primary-care pricing authority to ensure Medicare funding reflects the true cost of delivering care.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare estimated that potentially preventable hospitalisations cost the economy $7.7bn in 2023-24. “Better primary care could help reduce that burden,” Slawomirski said.

Slawomirski said reforms needed to “go further.” “As the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce recommended, we need to move away from our heavy reliance on fee-for-service payments towards blended funding models, particularly for people with chronic and complex conditions,” he said.

Slawomirski also said: “We also need to support multidisciplinary teams, which the current payment system discourages. An independent pricing authority could help, but the aim should be to pay for the value of care rather than simply reimburse the cost of providing it.” One solution could be to pay GPs more relative to other medical specialists. “We need more people working in primary care, and a payment system that rewards them for keeping people healthy.”