Bulk-billing

Bulk-billing is when the doctor accepts the Medicare benefit (that’s 85 or 100 per cent of the Schedule fee) as full payment for the services rendered. You don’t have to pay the gap.

Normally, if you are bulk-billed, your Medicare card will be swiped and you sign a form. You do not have to pay anything — the doctor recovers 85 or 100 per cent of the Schedule fee directly from Medicare as payment for his/her services — currently $36.30 for a standard GP consultation.

As an incentive to improve bulk-billing rates, which had been declining since their peak in 1996-7, Medicare now provides an extra payment to doctors in eligible areas each time they bulk-bill pensioners, health care card holders and those aged 16 and under.

Nonetheless, there is an ever-widening gap between the Medicare benefits doctors can recoup and the costs of running a practice. This explains why some GPs have limited bulk-billing to certain times of day or to concession card holders only and why others don’t bulk-bill at all.

http://www.mydr.com.au/first-aid-self-care/australian-health-system-how-it-works