According to the Australian Medical Association, the Australian Government’s refusal to set Medicare rebates according to the rising cost of a GP consultation means that compensation for the average person is now at half of what it should be if it kept up with other costs.

What does this mean exactly? Well, despite there being a recorded high in bulk billing rates (approximately 80 percent of visits to GPs are at no cost to the patient) there remains 9 percent of Australian patients who have deferred a visit to the doctor because of the immediate out-of-pocket expense.

The result? People have taken to flooding public hospitals in hope of receiving free treatment. And this is no minor issue – in 2010, more than 2.1 million patients turned up at public hospital emergency departments with conditions that a GP could handle.

Information released in the Report on Government Services by the Productivity Commission outlines the total expenditure on healthcare services in Australia was estimated to be $121.4 billion in 2009-10. The healthcare workforce in 2009 was made up of 72 739 registered medical practitioners working in medicine, a further 1520 Australians were in the medical labour force but on extended leave or looking for work and 320 982 registered nurses.

Why then, if we have what seems to be a financially invested in and practitioner-strong health sector, is there still a need for people to avoid a visit to the doctor? The simple answer: where GPs are scarce (for example in rural areas of the Northern Territory bulk billing is less common and patents can face costs of $35 or more for a standard 10 minute visit.

“While social and economic disadvantage can be linked to negative health outcomes, the effect on demand is less clear. Poor health could increase demand for health services, however, poor health could be the result of not accessing health services when required because of financial, educational or geographic barriers,” states the report.

“Higher income and wealth are associated with better health. People with higher income are better able to access health services in a timely manner, and are also able to access goods and services that have health benefits such as better housing, food and other healthy pursuits.”

And what is being done to resolve this? The report outlines service-sector objectives to the following effect:

• Government involvement in the health system is aimed at efficiently and effectively protecting and restoring the health of the community by ensuring Australians are born and remain healthy.
• Australian’s will receive appropriate high quality and affordable primary and community health services.
• Australians will receive appropriate high quality and affordable hospital and hospital related care.
• Australian’s will have positive health experiences that take account of individual circumstances and care needs.
• Have a health system that promotes social inclusion and reduces disadvantage, especially for Indigenous Australians; and
• Australians will have access to a sustainable health system.