1QCY26: GP Bulk-Billing Rate Up 450bp cf. 1QCY25, Sequential Increase of 180bp

Research evidence excerpt

1QCY26: GP Bulk-Billing Rate Up 450bp cf. 1QCY25, Sequential Increase of 180bp

Health Care Facilities

Equity Research

May 17, 2026

Figure 7 - Australian Medicare - GP services and growth rate Figure 8 - Australian Medicare - Specialist services and growth rate

18 20 3.5 10 Specialist services (LHS) % y-y (RHS)

(m) VR GP unreferred services (LHS) % y-y (RHS) (%) (m) (%) 16 15 3.0 8

14 6

10 2.5

12 4

10 5 2.0

8 0 1.5 0

6 1.0 (5) (2)

0.5 (4) (10) 2

0.0 (6)

0 (15)

2003 2005 2006 2008 2009 2011 2012 2014 2015 2017 2018 2020 2021 2023 2024. 2003 2005 2006 2008 2009 2011 2012 2014 2015 2017 2018 2020 2021 2023 2024 .

Source: Medicare Australia Source: Medicare Australia

Higher out-of-pockets to see a GP, likely due to low Government Indexation

Channel checks suggest there are a number of reasons why GP services volume declined most

precipitously from FY22. In part, we believe this relates to higher out-of-pockets to see a GP. In

Australia, bulk billing is when a doctor/healthcare professional bills Medicare directly for a patient’s

medical or allied health service. In a bulk-billing arrangement:

The doctor accepts the Medicare benefit as full payment for the service. Hence, there is no•

out-of-pocket for the service; and

The patient assigns their right to a Medicare benefit to the doctor, so Medicare more quickly•

pays the benefit to the Doctor.

Hence, bulk-billing rates can be thought of as the inverse of rates of patients paying an amount

out-of-pocket to see a GP. Over the past 4 years, we have noted a decrease in the number of GP

services that have been bulk billed, which implies an increase in the number of patients paying an

amount out-of-pocket to see a GP. This is seen in the following figure.

Figure 9 - Australia: GP Bulk Billing rate, by volume (%)

95%

90% 81.8%

85%