Weston Medical Centre's Dr Yasas Samarasinghe knew he had to stop bulk-billing all patients when he couldn't pay his own wages.
"We were completely bulk billing until August last year," said Dr Samarasinghe, who owns the medical centre.
If he had stayed on that course, the centre "wouldn't have been able to continue as a small business with the revenue we were generating".
"It came to a situation where, once I paid the staff, I didn't have enough to pay myself and my wife [the practice's other GP Dr Ann Fernando].
"The staff, rent and consumables were paid, but we were not making enough to support ourselves and our mortgage at one stage. That's when we decided to go mixed-billing."
The medical centre introduced a standard consultation fee of $70, but continued to bulk bill children under 16 and pensioners.
"It's still been a struggle," he said.
Federal Hunter MP Dan Repacholi joined federal Assistant Minister for Health Emma McBride at the medical centre on Wednesday to discuss bulk-billing incentives announced in last week's budget.
In a key budget measure, the government tripled the incentives paid to doctors who bulk-bill patients aged under 16, pensioners and concession card holders.
Ms McBride, also the member for Dobell on the Central Coast, said the changes meant that "practices like this one - Weston Medical Centre - will be able to continue bulk billing the most vulnerable Australians".
Ms McBride said the incentives meant that "practices that reluctantly had to stop bulk billing will be able to resume bulk billing".
"And practices that were weighing up whether to continue bulk-billing will be able to do so."
Weston Medical Centre is considered to be in a metropolitan area [the same as Sydney] under federal mapping, along with Newcastle, most of Lake Macquarie, Kurri Kurri, Raymond Terrace and parts of Maitland.
The government's bulk-billing incentives for the Weston centre will be $20.65 per consultation.
In other areas of the Hunter, the incentives will be greater. The nearby Cessnock Medical Centre, for example, will receive $33.35 per bulk-billing consultation.
As well as these incentives, the Medicare rebate rose 4 per cent in the budget from $39.75 to $41.40. So the Weston centre will receive $62.05 for a bulk-billing consultation.
Dr Samarasinghe said the incentive would help his centre continue to bulk-bill the most vulnerable people, but he felt the Weston area should receive the same amount as Cessnock.
"The majority of our patients are from a low socio-economic background," he said.
He also said the Medicare rebate, due to the indexation freeze, had for many years been "highly inadequate".
"It needs to be reasonably increased," he said.
He said the Medicare rebate was about $35 a decade ago and had increased by only $4 to $5 over that time.
"Operational costs have increased significantly. Interest rates have kicked on for loans and mortgages and the other aspects of business-related activities," he said.
"Prices for consumables have increased significantly with COVID."
The Australian Medical Association [AMA] had called for a doubling of the rebate.
Ms McBride said the Medicare rebate was "now being indexed, which is a $1.5 billion investment".
"This is the beginning of our big reinvestment in Medicare and primary care," she said.
The budget also boosted funding for after-hours clinics.
"The biggest impediment to that is a lack of availability of doctors in GPs and hospitals," Dr Samarasinghe said.
He said more doctors would be "the biggest help we can all receive at this stage".
Ms McBride said the government had taken a "pipeline approach to getting GPs into the country".
"International medical graduates are already a priority area for migration and immigration pathways."
The government is also encouraging doctors in training to become GPs and working to keep existing ones in general practice.
"With our local medical graduates, we're now wiping their university debt if they work in the most remote parts of Australia," she said.
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