Health boost in 2023 budget gives GPs $3.5bn sweetener to bulk bill more patients

Tripling of the fee doctors receive for Medicare bulk billing and other measures aim to improve access to primary health care

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General practitioners will be incentivised to bulk bill more of their patients through a tripling of the fee they receive for bulk billing, at a cost to the budget of $3.5bn over five years.

This and other spending on health and aged care appears squarely aimed at improving access to primary health care, and taking pressure off more expensive hospitals and residential aged care.

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