Minister Roxon rejects GP fee advice
ABC online has reported Federal Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, saying that she is disappointed the Australian Medical Association (AMA) is calling on GPs to increase their fees.
AMA is recommending that doctors increase their standard consultation fee by $2 to $64 from November. For patients seeing a non-bulk-billing doctor, the Medicare rebate will cover just over half of the cost.
Ms Roxon says while she is pleased bulk-billing rates are near record highs, doctors are still charging too much.
“Average weekly earnings over the last 20 years have increased by 130% but the Medicare payments to GPs have increased by 200%,” she said.
“It’s not correct to say that it hasn’t kept up. It means though that some doctors have been charging a lot more than that rebate increase.”
