Bulk-billing covered 81.9% of non-referred general practitioner (GP) attendances in Australia from January through March 2026, an increase that points to broader use of a system designed to remove patient fees.
The Australian Government's January-March snapshot put the rate 4.6 percentage points above the same quarter in 2025. Bulk-billing accounted for 92.7% of attendances for concessional patients and 72.5% for non-concessional patients. Because the figures track attendances, they do not show how many individuals have every GP appointment bulk-billed.
The higher attendance rate follows the government's expansion of Medicare bulk-billing incentives to all Australians on Nov. 1, 2025. Under its Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program, practices that bulk-bill all their patients are eligible for an additional quarterly payment equal to 12.5% of Medicare rebates.
The government described the measures as a $7.9 billion investment and projected they would add 18 million bulk-billed GP visits a year by 2030. Its budget fact sheet also set a 90% target for bulk-billing rates for GP consultations by that year. Under the arrangement, the Medicare payment settles the GP's full fee, leaving the patient with no charge for the appointment.
Earlier data use different measures. The Productivity Commission reported that 49.1% of patients were fully bulk-billed in 2024-25, compared with a peak of 67.6% in 2020-21. It also found that 77.9% of non-referred GP services were bulk-billed in 2024-25; that service rate is separate from the share of patients whose care was fully bulk-billed.
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) President Dr. Michael Wright said practices continued to face rising expenses. “While it’s encouraging to see funding moving in the right direction, the cost of running a practice continues to rise,” he said.
The RACGP's 2026 Health of the Nation report is scheduled to launch at Parliament House in Canberra on Oct. 28, the college's news service said.
