Minister for the Central Coast and Member for Wyong David Harris says medical care will be more accessible for the region’s veterans with the payroll tax rebate for GPs available under the State Government’s $189M Bulk-Billing Support Initiative set to be expanded to include to veterans with a Gold, White or Orange DVA card.
“This means that clinics which specialise in the treatment of veterans are more likely to be able to access the rebate,” Harris said.
“It will keep their costs down and allow them to continue to offer important primary care services to veterans.”
Harris, who is also Minister for Veterans, said the government was committed to helping those who served the nation.
“The Bulk-Billing Support Initiative is a win-win that makes medical care more affordable and accessible for our brave service men and women while easing cost pressures on our medical care providers,” he said.
The Bulk-Billing Support Initiative was introduced in the 2024/25 NSW Budget to protect bulk-billing for people needing a GP and reduce the strain on emergency departments.
Under the initiative, the NSW Government established an ongoing payroll tax rebate for GP clinics of at least 80 per cent of their patient services in metropolitan Sydney and 70 per cent outside of metropolitan Sydney.
The expansion of the Bulk-Billing Support Initiative means that services billed to veterans will count towards the threshold needed to benefit from the payroll tax rebate.
It will apply retrospectively to September 4, 2024, when the initiative commenced.
The NSW Government consulted extensively with peak bodies, clinics and agents throughout the design and implementation process of the initiative.
This included legislating a 12-month pause on payroll tax audits for GP practices in September 2023 to allow time for engagement with the sector, and the establishment of a Revenue NSW-led working group to create a practice note to assist clinics, their accountants and legal advisors.
The Government has responded quickly to strengthen the initiative following consultation with RSL NSW.
Recent Medicare data showed that an additional 1.8 million GP visits in NSW were bulk-billed in the year to October 2024.
This resulted in a 1.3 per cent increase of the overall bulk-billing rate in NSW to 81.9 per cent, the highest in Australia.
Extending the Bulk-Billing Support Initiative and will boost its effectiveness to provide cost-of-living support for patients and certainty for GPs and clinics, the government says.