Medicare bulk billing and out-of-pocket costs of GP attendances over time

Local Government Areas with 10 highest and lowest GP bulk billing rates between 2019 and 2023

For the last 5 years, Queensland had the most Local Government Areas (LGAs, see Technical notes for details) with the 10 highest GP bulk billing rates, followed by New South Wales (Figure 5). These LGAs were largely in the lowest socioeconomic areas (SEIFA quintile 1) and none of them were in higher socioeconomic areas (quintiles 4 and 5). Woorabinda (Remote area) and Doomadgee (Very Remote area) in Queensland and Cumberland (Major cities) in New South Wales appeared with the highest GP bulk billing rates in each of the 5 years and these 3 LGAs were the lowest socioeconomic areas.

Over the last 5 years, the majority of LGAs with the 10 lowest GP bulk billing rates were in Western Australia, followed by New South Wales. LGAs with the lowest GP bulk billing rates were mostly in the highest socioeconomic areas (quintile 5). There were no lowest socioeconomic areas (quintile 1) in the 10 lowest GP bulk billing rates. Peppermint Grove and Cottesloe (Western Australia) and Mosman (New South Wales) appeared with the lowest GP bulk billing rates throughout the entire period and these LGAs were all located in the highest socioeconomic areas (quintile 5) and in Major cities.

Figure 5: Highest and lowest 10 GP bulk billing rates for LGAs across states and territories, 2019 to 2023