1 year ago
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Health policy analysts say payment boost will not reverse the trend of practices already charging patients gap fees
Budget incentives aimed at GPs are unlikely to increase the number of bulk-billing appointments available, or prompt clinics that have moved to private fees back to providing bulk-billed care, health policy experts and GPs say.
A health policy analyst and former senior public servant of two decades with the federal department of health, Charles Maskell-Knight, said the bulk-billing incentive increases announced in the budget will encourage GPs already bulk billing to keep doing so, but will not reverse the trend of practices charging some patients a private fee, or scrapping bulk billing altogether.
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