US EditionFive graphs that show how the cost of seeing a doctor has skyrocketed
- A 2023 report found that over 20% of Australians visiting specialists faced exorbitant fees, with some waiting years for care in major cities.
- This situation results from workforce shortages, underfunded public outpatient clinics, and Medicare rebates that have not kept pace with inflation.
- Nearly 1.9 million Australians delay or skip critical specialist care annually due to high fees, which worsens health outcomes and pressures GPs and hospitals.
- In 2023, some specialists set their fees at two to three times higher than the Medicare schedule, resulting in out-of-pocket expenses as high as $671 for psychiatric care and exceeding $350 for other medical fields.
- Reforms proposed include naming and penalising excessive-fee specialists, boosting public clinic funding by $500 million yearly, expanding training, and improving cost transparency.
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'The system is broken': Report recommends outing specialists with excessive fees
High specialist medical costs cause almost two million Australians to delay or skip appointments, but a report suggests stripping public funding to doctors charging excessive fees could be part of the remedy.
·Sydney, Australia
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Total News Sources11
Leaning Left6Leaning Right1Center1Last UpdatedBias Distribution75% Left
Bias Distribution
- 75% of the sources lean Left
75% Left
L 75%
13%
13%
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