Doctors and general practice owners have welcomed a decision by the Queensland government to not subject GPs to extra payroll taxes.
Pharmacists have proposed easing the burden on local GPs by being able to prescribe for things like chronic and dental pain.
Doctors have warned that a new Victorian and NSW payroll tax ruling will hike up the cost of seeing a GP and could “kill off bulk-billing”.
The proposed change acts on a recommendation of the recent Medicare review following reports in this masthead that billions of dollars were leaking from the system each year.
GP clinics are small businesses. We want to help our patients,but altruism is not a sustainable business model. We can’t keep making a loss for bulk-billed consultations.
The $3.5 billion Medicare bulk-billing package has been welcomed by some Australian clinics,but many doctors say out-of-pocket expenses won’t change for metro patients.
From energy prices to housing affordability,here’s what you wanted to know about the federal budget.
The state is set to grow faster than previously thought,surpassing 5.5 million residents within a year,the federal budget shows.
The change will apply to about 11.6 million children,concession cardholders and pensioners,but Health Minister Mark Butler expects GPs to lower gap fees for others.
A spending splurge will cost $24 billion over five years across more than a dozen initiatives despite the government’s rhetoric about the need for restraint.
The unorthodox effort to find housing for doctors was revealed after Queensland’s health minister outlined a 10-year vision to shift the focus “from illness to wellness”.