House debates
Wednesday, 12 February 2020
Questions without Notice
Medicare
2:57 pm
Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
My question is to the Minister for Regional Health, Regional Communications and Local Government. Can the minister confirm that of the 14 regions affected by cuts to Medicare bulk-billing incentives, eight are in Labor electorates, six are in Liberal electorates, but none are in Nationals electorates?
Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker, Minister for Regional Health, Regional Communications and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I can confirm there have been no cuts to GP bulk-billing. There has been a change to geographic locations, using information from the Bureau of Statistics. That was an update on information from 30 years ago. Outer metropolitan areas that may have been regional are now part of larger metropolitan areas. They are the ones that are impacted, but GPs in those areas are still eligible for district workforce priority. They can still bulk-bill, and those changes have not happened.