Medicare review: what changes can we expect to see - and what’s still missing?

Australia’s health sector has welcomed the broad vision of the Strengthening Medicare report, but worries that it’s short on details, a timeline and money. Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP

A major government report into Medicare funding has suggested ways to update the system for Australia’s healthcare needs in 2023, with proposals on different specialists working better together, allowing pharmacists and nurses to do more tasks and take pressure off GPs, and changes to how the government pays for doctor’s visits.

But the long-awaited report of the Strengthening Medicare taskforce has little in immediate assistance for people struggling to book an appointment, find a bulk-billing GP or pay ballooning gap fees.