Why is my doctor no longer bulk billing and is Medicare in crisis?

For patients, it is becoming harder to find a bulk-billing doctor in Australia, while GPs say relying on the Medicare rebate alone will not cover their rising costs. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

If you recently received an email or text from your GP clinic saying they can no longer routinely bulk bill even concession cardholders, you’re not alone.

As Guardian Australia revealed this year, policy experts believe the high rates of bulk billing reported by the previous government were artificially inflated by noncompliant billing practices, and the statistics don’t reflect the number of people saying it is hard, or even impossible, to find a bulk-billing doctor.