Today’s Cleanbill report on bulk billing rates and out of pocket costs to see a doctor adds to the case for Andrew Barr to remove his payroll tax on GPs.

Cleanbill describes the national trend as catastrophic and the situation in the ACT is the second worst in the country.

According to the report, the ACT has the second lowest bulk billing rate in the country at 3.4%. This is well below the national average of 24.2% and has worsened by 1.9% since Cleanbill’s 2023 report.

The ACT also has the second highest average out of pocket cost in the country at almost $49.39 per visit. This is 18.5% above the national average of $41.69 and has worsened by 1.5% since Cleanbill’s 2023 report.

Shadow Minister for Health Leanne Castley said the Chief Minister had obstinately refused to prevent payroll tax being levied on GPs contracted by clinics and this had seen the cost of seeing a doctor in the ACT rise in direct response.

“Last August, Labor and the Greens blocked debate on a Canberra Liberals Bill to exempt GPs from this wrong-headed tax and now we are seeing the consequences,” Ms Castley said.

“The Canberra Liberals, RACGP, AMA and local GPs all raised concerns about this tax, its impact on GP clinics and patients and the added stress it puts on struggling emergency departments.

“The Canberra Liberals will abolish this tax if we form government in October because we support our GPs to continue delivering essential health care to all Canberrans.

“At a time when Canberrans are facing a cost-of-living crisis Andrew Barr is making it even more expensive for Canberrans to access a GP.

“Meanwhile, after months of prodding, the ACT Government has finally updated its Access to Health Services dashboard, which shows that access to GP services has steadily declined under the Barr-Rattenbury government.

“As at April 2023, 19% of Canberrans now find it hard to access GP services, as compared to 10.7% in 2020 and 5.5% in 2019.  Clearly access to GPs in Canberra is rapidly declining,” Ms Castley concluded.