Some Illawarra parents say they have been left questioning whether they can afford to take their sick children to see a doctor, due to the increasing difficulty in finding one who will bulk bill.
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This week, a new survey showed less than one in 10 clinics in some parts of the Illawarra now offer bulk-billing to general patients.
This was well below the national bulk billing rate reported by health directory Cleanbill, which found 35.1% of surveyed general practices across Australia were bulk billing new patients.
While the survey asked about adult general patients, a number of Illawarra residents say it is also increasingly hard for them to find fully subsidised GP care for their children.
Shellharbour dad Ryan Brown said he was unable to find a single clinic in his local area who would bulk bill appointments for his daughter who has asthma, and instead traveled to Dapto to one doctor who had long wait times to find free medical care.
"We have had to sit there for nearly two hours after our appointment time just to see him and the only reason we stay is my daughter gets asthma bad and gets croup very often and keeps getting ear infections so a bulk-billed doctor is important to us," he said.
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Dapto mum Natalie Radloff said she had reconsidered taking her daughter Jordan to the GP because of the cost since her clinic stopped bulk billing.
"I'm pregnant with my second child and my daughter goes to daycare where they pick up things pretty quickly.
"I took Medicare for granted, when it was all free and easy to get in, I would just take my daughter to the doctors when she was sick, because she couldn't tell me what's wrong."
"Now with paying and waiting, it means if it's not urgent I just go to the chemist and ask their opinion, and if it's really urgent I just take her straight to the hospital. I've been at the ED three times since January."
"She's had asthma and we took her straight to hospital for that - I also can't get in see a doctor for two weeks so I don't have a choice. I know it puts pressure on the hospital system."
Cunningham MP Alison Byrnes, who represents the Illawarra area with the lowest rate of bulk billing, said people regularly told her that it had "never been harder to see a doctor"
"The Morrison Government hid the shocking decline of bulk billing during its term of government," she said.
"The constant advice we have received across the country is that after nine years of cuts and neglect to Medicare, it has never been harder to see a doctor, and never more expensive - with bulk billing rates in decline, and gap fees constantly going up."
She referred to the government's "Strengthening Medicare Taskforce", which released a report in February which outlined plans to fix Medicare amid declining bulk-billing rates and rising out-of-pocket medical costs.
Ms Byrnes said actions taken from the taskforce recommendations would be outlined in next month's budget, when the government has said it will allocate $750 million over three years to Medicare reform.
Royal Australian College of GPs, President Dr Nicole Higgins said Cleanbill survey results showed the cost of years of neglect of general practice.
"Medicare has not kept up with the cost of running a practice, and we are now well past the point where the general practice profession just can subsidise care," she said.
"This is an equity issue, and the government must act to save fair access to healthcare in the upcoming budget. The government can't address this without substantially increasing the Medicare rebate and tripling the bulk billing incentive.
"GPs want to serve their communities fairly and ensure all their patients can access the care they need.
"When people can see their GP when they need to, rather than when they can afford to, they are less likely to experience expensive hospital emergency presentations and be healthier and happier at every stage of their lives".
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