Goulburn Medical Clinic GP Rod McConnell on Medicare overhaul

He was responding to news the Federal Government would overhaul Medicare and include nurses, paramedics, pharmacists and other allied health professionals in the delivery of primary care.

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the system was struggling to keep up with demand.

Dr McConnell said this was because the Medicare rebate, for the last 30 years, was not kept in line with inflation.

"The latest increase was 1.6 per cent and inflation is currently at just over 7 per cent," he said.

At Goulburn Medical Clinic practice costs have gone up, including a necessary pay rise for staff, to help them keep up with the cost of living.

Despite this, the Medicare rebate has increased by just 1.6 per cent.

Dr McConnell says the math doesn't equate.

"Really, the Medicare rebate as it stands is a bit less than half of the cost of a consultation, and that's the problem," he said.

"It's something that's been neglected over the last thirty years, to get to this crisis point. To fix that in one fell swoop is going to be a big shock to the Government."

According to Dr McConnell, both sides of politics have boasted of high bulk billing rates, around 80 per cent.

"Both major parties have boasted about that as if it were a good thing but really it's not viable for the GPs to bulk bill," Dr McConnell said.

He says health is an understandably emotive issue.

"People feel that health is their right. It's something that's essential to keep on living, so why should they have to pay for it?" Dr McConnell said.

"But really we all have to pay for groceries and other things that are essential. Healthcare is in the same basket.

"People need to understand that the Government will help with the cost of a consultation through the Medicare rebate. However, if they want quality healthcare moving forward, they need to contribute," he said.

Goulburn Medical Clinic has what's called mixed billing .

"We've had that in place for a long time and patients are by and large accepting," Dr McConnell said.

"We have found that people are prepared to pay for what's a quality service."

On top of the Federal Government's decreased Medicare rebates, the State Government would have doctors pay a payroll tax.

"There's been a big push for medical practices to start paying payroll tax on doctor's salaries," Dr McConnell said.

"But doctors are already very highly taxed individuals and then a payroll tax would slap another five per cent of tax on top of that. This is an issue that at the moment is putting us under a lot of stress.

"We feel that we're being attacked on a couple of fronts," he said.

Dr McConnell was hesitant to welcome the Government's plan to upskill nurses, paramedics, pharmacists and other allied health professionals to deliver primary care.

"There's a whole number of factors that go into play when deciding if a patient should continue on a current medication at the same dose, or does it need to be increased or decreased," Dr McConnell said.

This includes reading a patient's blood pressure and their pathology, which pharmacists are not trained to do.

"There's not the privacy within a pharmacy to really properly address all of those things," Dr McConnell said.

"Let alone the training that would be required."

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