Victorian Medicare Action Group (VMAG)

Consumer Stories

These stories describe real situations in which people have had trouble accessing health care services. This may be because there have not been services available, or because they are too expensive to access for many people. People may be forced to go without treatment, to seek it in hospital emergency departments, or simply to take un-prescribed, over-the-counter medication.

These stories are of great interest to the media, and are excellent for helping people make connections between their experiences and the state of the general health care system – they spur people into action!

VMAG continues to collect these and feed them to the media every week, but we can never have too many.

Kerry's husband no longer works due to serious illness. Each time he needs to see his GP, he pays an up-front fee of $45 and $20 worth of Medication. They do not qualify for the $300 Medicare safety net, and they won't generate enough medical expenses to access the $700 safety net. "We're being disadvantaged because we're just over the tax threshold, yet we don't earn enough to be able to pay the GP fee if we need one in an emergency", says Kerry, who now travels twenty minutes away to see a bulk billing GP when she needs one. Bill is a shift worker, and the sole income earner for his family. Bill's GP of many years now charges $40 per visit, and the only bulk billing doctor in the area doesn't work after hours. Bill can no longer afford to see his GP when his asthma plays up, and can only see the bulk billing GP if he takes time off work, which his employer doesn't like.

Kate's GP stopped bulk billing late last year. First he began charging $30, and now she must pay $50 with each visit. She recently had a car accident, and later that day, her housemate noticed she was concussed. Kate spent three hours waiting at the Emergency Department of the local hospital because she couldn't afford to see her GP. Kate is a single mother of three dependant children. She lives in Hoppers Crossing and works part time as a shift nurse. Because of this limited income, she also receives a part pension.
Kate's children have considerable health needs; her daughter suffers from a skin condition for which she needs to take ongoing medication, and visit a GP every month. Her eldest son requires functional orthodontic work which she has been told will cost over $4,500, and her youngest son suffers from a form of autism which, because it is relatively mild, has seen him discharged from a local mental health service. The service receives limited funding, and has therefore been forced to service only children with more severe autism. Nevertheless, her son experiences difficulties at school, which puts considerable strain on Kate and her family. She feels he would benefit from further treatment and support, but cannot afford this.
Last year, after twelve years of she and her children visiting a regular GP, the clinic has discontinued its bulk billing service, and she now has to pay the gap fee of $6 for each visit. After attempting to meet these costs for some time, she and her family have been forced to attend the last bulk billing clinic in the area. Initially, Kate worried that the new doctor did not have access to their full medical histories, but eventually she found a doctor at the clinic which she felt comfortable with and in whom she trusted. However, as the clinic continued to become inundated with families like Kate's, she has discovered that she can no longer choose to see the doctor of her choice, and is now forced to take pot-luck with whichever doctor she is assigned to. Kate is not thrilled at this, but considers she and her children to be fortunate in that they can still visit a doctor in their area when they need to.

A mother with three children in a large country town in Victoria can not afford to access a GP for herself and three children when they all have the flu. The total cost would be $160 plus pharmaceuticals. A person attending a GP practice in a country town owes the GP money and is scared to re attend the GP. Welfare agency intervenes to assist the person get a GP service.

Parents with a child with a severe mental illness require a GP visit in the middle of the night. Locum is unable to attend for several hours and if they do attend will cost $140. Only alternative is to visit the emergency department of a hospital. A daughter desperately tries to arrange a GP to visit her father in an outer urban aged care facility. After ringing 25 GP's one finally agrees to visit at a cost of $160.

Share Your Story

The Victorian Medicare Action Group is keen to gather a range of peoples experiences related to the way that they have used GP services recently.

These stories will be used to inform our media contacts; local politicians and in submissions to Parliamentary Inquiries. We have numerous enquiries from media organisations wanting people to talk about their experiences. These stories should be very brief and may record both the financial and health impacts of peoples access to G.P.'s or related medical services.

We will keep these confidential and they will only be used with the consent of the author. Obviously, if people are prepared to speak publicly this would be most helpful. This strategy has proved very powerful and successful in communicating with the broader community and Politicians. We can only keep telling these stories with your help.

Please send your story to Chris Hagarty, VMAG Project Officer

Email chris.hagarty@iechs.org.au
Ph. (03) 9429 1811

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Kerry's husband no longer works due to serious illness. Each time he needs to see his GP, he pays an up-front fee of $45 and $20 worth of Medication. They do not qualify for the $300 Medicare safety net, and they won't generate enough medical expenses to access the $700 safety net. "We're being disadvantaged because we're just over the tax threshold, yet we don't earn enough to be able to pay the GP fee if we need one in an emergency", says Kerry, who now travels twenty minutes away to see a bulk billing GP when she needs one.	Bill is a shift worker, and the sole income earner for his family. Bill's GP of many years now charges $40 per visit, and the only bulk billing doctor in the area doesn't work after hours. Bill can no longer afford to see his GP when his asthma plays up, and can only see the bulk billing GP if he takes time off work, which his employer doesn't like.
Kate's GP stopped bulk billing late last year. First he began charging $30, and now she must pay $50 with each visit. She recently had a car accident, and later that day, her housemate noticed she was concussed. Kate spent three hours waiting at the Emergency Department of the local hospital because she couldn't afford to see her GP.	Kate is a single mother of three dependant children. She lives in Hoppers Crossing and works part time as a shift nurse. Because of this limited income, she also receives a part pension. Kate's children have considerable health needs; her daughter suffers from a skin condition for which she needs to take ongoing medication, and visit a GP every month. Her eldest son requires functional orthodontic work which she has been told will cost over $4,500, and her youngest son suffers from a form of autism which, because it is relatively mild, has seen him discharged from a local mental health service. The service receives limited funding, and has therefore been forced to service only children with more severe autism. Nevertheless, her son experiences difficulties at school, which puts considerable strain on Kate and her family. She feels he would benefit from further treatment and support, but cannot afford this. Last year, after twelve years of she and her children visiting a regular GP, the clinic has discontinued its bulk billing service, and she now has to pay the gap fee of $6 for each visit. After attempting to meet these costs for some time, she and her family have been forced to attend the last bulk billing clinic in the area. Initially, Kate worried that the new doctor did not have access to their full medical histories, but eventually she found a doctor at the clinic which she felt comfortable with and in whom she trusted. However, as the clinic continued to become inundated with families like Kate's, she has discovered that she can no longer choose to see the doctor of her choice, and is now forced to take pot-luck with whichever doctor she is assigned to. Kate is not thrilled at this, but considers she and her children to be fortunate in that they can still visit a doctor in their area when they need to.
A mother with three children in a large country town in Victoria can not afford to access a GP for herself and three children when they all have the flu. The total cost would be $160 plus pharmaceuticals.	A person attending a GP practice in a country town owes the GP money and is scared to re attend the GP. Welfare agency intervenes to assist the person get a GP service.
Parents with a child with a severe mental illness require a GP visit in the middle of the night. Locum is unable to attend for several hours and if they do attend will cost $140. Only alternative is to visit the emergency department of a hospital.	A daughter desperately tries to arrange a GP to visit her father in an outer urban aged care facility. After ringing 25 GP's one finally agrees to visit at a cost of $160.