Mallee residents are paying more to see the doctor and are finding it harder to access healthcare under the Albanese Labor Government, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health and Member for Mallee Dr Anne Webster said today.

“Labor promised to strengthen Medicare but they have weakened it. It has never been harder or more expensive to see a doctor than under the Albanese Labor Government, as the data continues to point to a primary care system at crisis point,” Dr Webster said.

Recent analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics and Services Australia data shows that despite Mallee residents having the lowest per-capita incomes of all Victorian federal electorates, only 66.12 per cent of patients were bulk-billed. By contrast, the three electorates with the lowest bulk billing rates (below 50 per cent) were in Victoria’s wealthiest electorates.

“Last year, 1.2 million Australians avoided seeing a doctor due to the cost, forcing unwell Australians to choose between putting food on the table or visiting their GP.

Nationwide, the GP bulk billing rate under Labor is 77.7 per cent – compared to 84 per cent under Peter Dutton as Health Minister and 88.5 per cent by the time the Coalition left office.

Reports indicate that Australians have lost access to more than 400 dedicated bulkbilling GP clinics over the past 12 months. Fewer than one in four Australian GP clinics offer Bulk Billing to all adults in 2024, down more than 11 per cent over the past year.

“Affordable healthcare is more important than ever during this cost-of-living crisis, but it has never been harder or more expensive to see a doctor than under the Albanese Labor Government.

“Not only is Labor’s bulk billing collapse pushing out-of-pocket costs upward for struggling households, a weakened primary care system will place additional pressure on already over-burdened hospitals. These same hospitals are under attack from Victorian Labor with their centralisation agenda.

“Meanwhile, Victorian Labor’s GP payroll tax in some cases hits doctors for millions of dollars retrospectively in a brazen tax grab.

“The former Coalition Government increased Medicare funding every single year, almost doubling the funding for Medicare during our term in government, and we budgeted a further $7.3 billion increase in Medicare investment over the following four years.