‘Treated as a third-class citizen’: patients who need Medicare most struggle to find a GP who bulk bills

Megan Watts says she is not aware of any GP clinics that bulk bill people without a healthcare card in her local area of North Canberra. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

“I don’t understand why all my bones and all of my organs are not covered by Medicare,” says Megan Watts. “It’s very frustrating.”

Watts, 56, lives in the ACT, where GP bulk-billing rates are some of the worst in the country. In her local area of North Canberra she is not aware of any GP clinics that bulk bill people without a healthcare card.