Even wealthy Australians are cutting back on doctor’s appointments due to the cost of living, with new data showing the proportion of people in New South Wales who put off a GP visit because it was too expensive increased by 246 per cent over the past four years. Source: The Guardian.
A new NSW Council of Social Services report, based on modelling of Australian Bureau of Statistics data by researchers at the University of Canberra, found health care had become less accessible for more people.
Those on low incomes still struggle the most to see a doctor: there was a 301 per cent increase in the proportion of this demographic who delayed or avoided a GP visit due to the cost between 2020 and 2024.
But the proportion of people on middle and high incomes delaying or avoiding the GP also increased significantly: by 246 per cent.
The researchers drew from the 2023 patient experience survey contained within the ABS’s multipurpose household survey as well as original data estimations they produced.
They found a “dramatic increase” in the proportion of people delaying or not seeing a GP due to cost – from 2.8 per cent in 2020 to 9.5 per cent in 2024.
In 2020, proportionally, 2.8 per cent of NSW residents skipped a GP appointment because of the cost. This increased to 9.5 per cent in 2024.
People on low incomes attended an average of 5.7 GP appointments in 2020. In 2024 this fell to 4.8 appointments.
The report draws on the most recent census data to set the low income threshold at $540 a week in 2021 dollars. It presents all other results as “medium/high income”.
NCOSS chief executive officer Cara Varian said more people weren’t seeing doctors because of the increasing costs of medical services – propelled in part by the dearth of bulk-billing GPs – as well as inflation in other areas such as energy.
The NCOSS report found that people in NSW living outside of Sydney were more likely to put off seeing both GPs and specialists and that their experiences were worse the further away they lived.
FULL STORY
Even wealthy Australians avoiding GP visits as cost of living hurts access to health care (By Catie McLeod, The Guardian)
