Join us on socialNewsletters Scroll to top Get Access Code. Enter your e-mail address and Crikey will send out a Verification Code Enter the Verification Code sent out to verify your account. The Verification Code will end in 1 hour. Desire some help? Contact us on: support@crikey.com.au or call the hotline: +61 (03) 8623 9900. Sweeping reform is needed to stabilize the concerns of bulk-billing and quality care, and to rort-proof some practices’ ‘imaginative’ billing. (Image: AAP/Tracey Nearmy) One chapter of the book Catch-22 explains a hospitalised solider, catatonic and bandaged head to toe, linked to 2 containers– one leaking fluid in, the other gathering urine from another tube. The containers are vigilantly altered every nursing shift, however the soldier does not improve, triggering another soldier to ask: why do not they simply link the containers and eliminate the intermediary? That is a relatively apt description of the present state of bulk-billing in Australia. Underfunding and an out-of-date system have actually conditioned medical professionals to prioritise income at the expenditure of quality care, the client relegated to the function of intermediary. The option to bulk-billing is space costs, a financial four-letter word. Bulk-billing is an unsteady structure to construct a socialised health system on, considering that it counts on specialists and company owner wanting to accept decreased payment to offer a no-gap service to clients and separately prop up stated health system. Go much deeper on the concerns that matter. End up being a customer to get complete access to the site, along with our premium newsletters. Join us Already a customer? Visit to keep reading. About the Author Mitchell Squire Contributor Mitchell Squire is a GP and a visual satirist for Crikey. Subjects Comments The Crikey remark area is members-only material. Please login to take part in the commentary.