‘Failing’: Bridget McKenzie slams affordable healthcare under Labor, amid rising out-of-pocket costs

A Nationals MP has lashed Labor’s “failing” approach to affordable healthcare, as the government doubles down on tackling rising out-of-pocket GP and specialist costs.

Taking effect last month, Labor’s $8.5bn plan to overhaul bulk-billing was designed to address plummeting rates of the affordable healthcare strategy, which fell from 89 per cent in 2020 to 78 per cent in 2024.

It includes the Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program (BBPIP) which gives a 12.5 per cent incentive payment to be split between the GP and practices that sign up for the program.

These policies have focused on bringing down the cost of seeing a GP, but now, Labor has flagged the rising cost of seeing a specialist as another major priority.

Health Minister Mark Butler has directed his department to provide “wide-ranging” advice on the options available to reform the Medicare rebate system, including potentially denying deny specialists who charge exorbitant feed to be eligible, The Australian reports.

Appearing on Sky News, Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie was asked about Labor’s focus on affordable healthcare.

She claimed, under Labor, the system was “going backwards” and believed the spruiking of Medicare reforms during the election campaign, to resolve issues around the cost of healthcare, was a “lie”.

“The reality is, Australians are paying 50 bucks out of pocket, on average, to see their GP and $117 on average to see specialists,” she said.

“Now, for many Australians, particularly those with young families, where you might need additional visits or more than just one (visit), that is out of the reach of family budgets.

“We used to be a country where our universal health care system was the envy of the world, because no matter whether you lived … you would be able to access quality care for an affordable price.

“And that is failing under the Labor Party.”

Teal MP Zali Steggall agreed there was a problem, but admitted it was a “tricky” and “difficult” one.

“Bridget outlined the problem, but we actually really need to try and talk about what are the solutions, right?” she said.

“We can apply blame, but we know the gap has been getting bigger … for a lot of medical experts in terms of delivering their services compared to what they could get back.

“So we need to find a balance.”

Ms Steggall said she supported “greater transparency” around why specialists were charging higher prices, as well as better information for Australians to be empowered to “shop around”.

However, she disagreed with Senator McKenzie’s assessment of Australia’s healthcare system, saying it was still one of the best in the world.

“Our Medicare system is phenomenal when you compare to other countries, but it is a huge cost to the budget, and it’s a really huge cost to the household budget as well.

“So finding the balance is not easy.

“I hope everyone in parliament can come together to look at the solutions rather than just the problem, without really putting forward a solution.”