Medicare investment continues to rise under the Turnbull Government, and so do GP bulk billing rates, with new figures continuing to expose Bill Shorten’s Mediscare lies.  

Official Medicare figures for the September 2016 quarter show GP bulk billing rates grew nearly 1 percentage point on the same time last year to 85.4 per cent, up from 84.6 per cent  in the September 2015 quarter.  

This coincided with an extra half-a-million Medicare-funded GP services for the September quarter, taking total Medicare GP investment to $1.9 billion for the period.  

Minister for Health Sussan Ley said that despite natural fluctuations in quarterly statistics due to seasonal variations, one thing was consistent – these new figures confirmed GP bulk billing rates remained the highest in history under the Coalition and no amount of Mediscare lies from Bill Shorten could change that.  

“An extra 17 million GP services were bulk billed under the Coalition last year compared with Labor,” Ms Ley said.

“These ongoing increases in bulk billing rates are underpinned by our record investment in Medicare, which is increasing by $4 billion over the next four years.

“The Turnbull Government is also working with GPs on the ground to deliver the reforms they have long campaigned for, and Labor long ignored.

“This includes getting on with delivering our new GP-centred Health Care Homes – a better way of delivering Medicare for those Australians requiring co-ordinated care for chronic conditions.

“No matter how Labor tries to spin it, today’s figure show once again show that Medicare investment and bulk billing rates continue to remain higher under the Coalition than under Labor.”

Overall Medicare bulk billing rates also increased to 77.8 per cent for the September 2016 quarter from 77.6 per cent in the September 2015 quarter.