Medicare Bulk Billing Spells Ill Health For The Health System

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is not in favor of the rise in Medicare bulk billing, which is not a good prognosis for the health system. Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott released some alarming statistics that show the extent of bulk billing, having risen to 75% nationally.

According to Dr Kim Bulwinkel, from AMA Queensland, when doctors get poorly compensated, they would resort to seeing more patients, in order to make it a feasible option. In his words, Bulk billing is a way of institutionalizing the undervaluing of medical service.You can't provide a good caring service, you can't provide the time to care when you have to push through a patient every six to ten minutes for eight to nine hours a day to maintain enough cash flow to support the business of a medical centre.