It's the centrepiece of last night's federal budget, designed to reduce the cost of living for some of the nation's most vulnerable people.
Doctors hope it will also help to unclog hospital emergency departments.
The government is tripling the incentive paid to doctors who bulk-bill certain patients.
The change will benefit eligible people aged under 16, pensioners, and Commonwealth concession card holders.
It will work by offering more financial incentives to GPs who bulk-bill those patients to make their consultations free.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers estimates it will benefit around 11 million people, including around five million children.
And Health Minister Mark Butler described the move as "the largest increase to the bulk-billing incentive in the 40-year history of Medicare".
How do bulk-billing incentives work?
Let's start with what "bulk-billing" means.
GP practices use this term when the fee they charge for a consultation is the same as the benefit Medicare pays them for the service.
This means the patient pays nothing and the GP instead bills Medicare for the service in bulk with other similar claims.
Australia prides itself on offering universal healthcare and these bulk-billed consultations are the cornerstone of making free medical care available to everyone.
So to encourage GPs to bill vulnerable patients in this way, the government offers GPs an additional payment — the bulk-bill incentive — when they bulk-bill people under 16 and those holding concession cards.
The more remote the practice, the higher the payment.
Currently, in metropolitan areas GPs get paid an incentive of $6.85, while those in very remote areas get $13.15.
From November 1, that is going to triple. So when GPs bulk-bill vulnerable patients they will get an incentive of between $20.65 and $39.65, depending on where they are located.
What the government is hoping will happen is that the extra payments will encourage GPs to go back to bulk-billing their vulnerable patients, so they can get free consultations with a doctor.
That should mean fewer people relying on overstretched hospitals for basic healthcare.
Why have so many doctors stopped bulk-billing?
Put simply, the Medicare rebate has not kept up with the rising cost of providing healthcare. That means everyone's been asked to cover the difference.
That's been bad news for people who have chronic health conditions because they typically need to go to their GP more regularly.
That's why this incentive specifically targets patients who have chronic illnesses, or who fit into age groups less likely to be working full-time.
Data shows bulk-billing rates continued to decline last year, dropping from 87 per cent to 83.4 per cent between July and September.
Research by online healthcare directory Cleanbill shows only 35 per cent of clinics nationally still offer bulk-billing. In four federal electorates — Newcastle (NSW), Mayo (SA), Fairfax (Qld) and Franklin (Tas) — no local GPs offer the concession.
That leaves many people facing about $40 in out-of-pocket costs to see a doctor — or lengthy waits in emergency departments.
Will these changes do enough to stop the decline in bulk-billing rates?
If a person can't find a doctor that bulk-bills, in effect they don't have access to free healthcare.
Doctors' groups and patient advocates have long been arguing that the government needs to address the falling number of GP practices willing to bulk-bill. So many of them sounded pretty chuffed by last night's announcement.
Steve Robson, the federal president of the Australian Medical Association, said he was delighted the government responded to what they had been saying for a long time.
"We think this is going to have a very broad effect across the country for many millions of Australians," Dr Robson said.
He said the health system was in crisis and it was getting harder and harder to get affordable care with GPs.
While the increased bulk-billing incentive has been welcomed by medical groups, it is not necessarily a silver bullet.
"Not every GP will go and bulk-bill because of this, because of the cost of providing care," said Nicole Higgins, the president of the Royal Australian College of GPs.
"What it does is it supports GPs to be able to bulk-bill those vulnerable patients.
"What is important is that we actually have a safety net for vulnerable and disadvantaged patients, and that's what this budget supports."
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