Bulk-billing rates continue to climb on the back of the Albanese government’s multibillion-dollar signature Medicare incentive, as the latest health department data shows increases in the number of free consultations for patients in all states and territories.

The national bulk-billing rate for the June 2026 quarter rose to 84.1 per cent, almost 4 percentage points higher than in the same quarter last year.

Almost four out of five patients aged 16 to 64 had their doctor’s appointment bulk billed in the June quarter – an increase of 8.2 percentage points year on year.

Bulk billing for consultations with the elderly, which are typically more complex and lengthy, has lagged.

The strong results reinforce the record 7 percentage point rise in the take-up of bulk billing by GPs since November 2025, when the Albanese government began paying incentives to doctors not to charge out-of-pocket fees.

The fastest take-up was in the Northern Territory, up 13 percentage points in the June quarter to 90.8 per cent. Almost nine in 10 patient visits in NSW and Victoria were bulk billed in the same quarter, 87.5 per cent and 85.7 per cent respectively.

The laggard is the Australian Capital Territory, where only 59.3 per cent of visits in the last quarter were bulk billed, up 2.4 percentage points. A wealthier enclave than other states and territories, the nation’s capital has trouble recruiting doctors to meet a local shortage and does not meet the criteria for the regional incentives to attract GPs.

More than 1400 practices have switched from mixed billing to bulk billing since the incentives were introduced, according to the federal health department.

The steady increase means Labor is on track to meet its $8.5 billion pledge ahead of the 2025 election to make nine of 10 GP visits free by 2030.

Many GP clinics had previously restricted bulk billing to children and concession-card holders, but the new incentives give doctors extra payments if they waive out-of-pocket fees.

For a standard consult by doctors in metropolitan areas that is about $63.50.

Clinics that bulk bill all their patients receive an extra quarterly payment set at 12.5 per cent of the practice’s Medicare billing.

Opposition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston claimed during June’s Senate estimates that some Labor MPs had bullied clinics into signing up for bulk billing.

She said MPs were “putting pressure on a practice by expressing great disappointment that they’re not bulk billing, when the department’s own figures suggest that 30 per cent of practices would be worse off if they went to a full bulk-billing model”.

“You’ve got your MPs out there making these comments, trying to bully, as I say, their local GPs.”

A Senate estimates hearing was told by health department officials that their modelling showed 4800 practices out of 6600 studied would be better off if they shifted to bulk billing with the new incentives – meaning 27 per cent of practices would not be better off.

Dr Michael Wright, president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, said that while the incentives helped doctors bulk bill, they did not cover the costs for many practices – “even the government’s own modelling [indicates] it was never going to cover the costs for all practices”.

“General practices are small businesses, you know,” Wright said.

“No one wins if practices close their doors because they can’t afford to keep their doors open. If politicians really want to help people all around Australia have affordable access to general practice care, the best way to do that is by increasing Medicare rebates, particularly for the longer and more complex consultations, because that’s the care that GPs are increasingly providing for our patients. But the way Medicare is structured, there’s sort of a disincentive for providing that longer care.”

The government is reviewing the way it costs individual consultations for different issues, through a review of the Medicare Benefits Scheme.

Health Minister Mark Butler said the increased bulk-billing rates were “good for patients’ hip pockets and good for their health”.

“Across the country more and more GP practices are becoming fully bulk-billing clinics meaning all patients need is their Medicare card, not their credit card,” he said.