‘Bulk billing is almost non-existent’: Tasmanian councils turning to ratepayers to prop up flailing GP clinics

Exclusive: A lack of federal support means several rural areas are using council rates to subsidise health services for vulnerable patients

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People in one of the lowest income areas of Tasmania are paying extra in their council rates to prop up health services and subsidise local GP bulk-billing clinics.

Dr John Saul, the president of the AMA in Tasmania, says Glamorgan-Spring Bay council on the state's east coast is one of several rural areas charging ratepayers for GP services so the most vulnerable patients can receive healthcare.

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