Royal Australian College of General Practitioners vice-president Dr Bruce Willett said while GPs had traditionally been reticent to talk to their patients about anything political, they were “keen to talk about the importance of health care and having that properly funded”.

And while doctors would never tell their patients how to vote, he said, “they will point out the importance of patients receiving a proper rebate that can allow them to get proper services, to fund the sort of health care that they would like”.

‘GPs have not received the support they deserve or need from successive governments.’

AMA president Dr Omar Khorshid

Neither major party has announced plans to increase GP Medicare rebates and the government’s 10-year primary care plan – which promised to allow patients to enrol with a single GP practice and access extra services through a program called MyGP – was not funded in last month’s budget.

While campaigning with Labor leader Anthony Albanese in Tasmania on Tuesday, the party’s finance spokesperson, Katy Gallagher, who previously served as ACT health minister, said “the proper funding of primary care is critical if we’re going to make sure our health system works”.

Albanese unveiled a $31.3 million plan to restore a 50 per cent regional loading to telehealth psychiatric consultations, a policy that aimed to increase access to bulk-billed services in the bush.

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Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday the government’s economic management supported the health system and that Medicare bulk-billing rates were “now up to 89 per cent”.

However, the Health Department’s latest report on Medicare services shows the proportion of GP consultations that are bulk billed fell to 88.4 per cent in the December quarter.

The Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services 2022 shows in 2020-21, just 67.6 per cent of patients had all GP services bulk billed, reflecting GPs’ tendency to bulk bill chronically ill patients who need regular visits and cannot afford to pay.

The RACGP is lobbying to lift the Medicare rebate for 20- to 40-minute consultations from $75.75 to about $83.30 and the rebate for 40 minute-plus consultations from $111.50 to $122.65. It also wants a new, $200 rebate for consultations that last 60 minutes or longer.

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Willett said GPs were disappointed by last month’s federal budget and would push hard for election commitments to invest in Medicare, saying rebates should “reflect the service that GPs provide” or more patients would face out-of-pocket costs.

“We recognise that a lot of people with chronic illnesses and people on pensions really do struggle to pay,” he said. “GPs continue to bulk bill, but there’s a limit to that. It’s also about the amount of time that GPs get to have with their patients, and we are frustrated by not being able to spend enough time ... to provide the quality care that we’d like to be able to provide.”

Patients with complex mental health conditions and chronic illnesses could not be adequately cared for in a 15-minute consultation, he said.

Jacqueline Maley cuts through the noise of the federal election campaign with news, views and expert analysis. Sign up to our Australia Votes 2022 newsletter here.