Australia’s Health Minister Mark Butler has declared reducing specialists’ fees will be his next key focus of health policy reform.
Doctors are currently free to set their own fees and many have rapidly increased them over the past 15 years. The average out-of-pocket cost for a non-bulk billed specialist consultation increased from A$46 in 2009–10 to $126 in 2024–25, or 11.9% per year. These are averages, so actual fees can be much higher and vary by specialty.
