Medicare Out-of-Pocket Cost: methodology

What this metric measures

The average patient contribution per service (out of hospital, total) for GP and other Medicare services nationally, from the health.gov.au Medicare quarterly statistics.

Why it matters: The cost a patient actually pays after the Medicare rebate is the gap between bulk billing and a bill, and the number that changes how often people see a GP.

Source & provenance

Publisher

Health.gov.au Medicare Statistics - Average Patient Contribution Per Service: Out of Hospital, Total (Australia, Total Medicare)

Update frequency

quarterly

Licence

CC BY 4.0

How the score is computed

The score is a 0–100 normalisation of the latest observation, compared to a baseline window. The traffic-light rating (RAG) reflects both the absolute level and the recent trend.

Direction

Lower is better

Trend window

24 months

Baseline

Last 10 years

{
  "red_min_pct_of_baseline": 110,
  "amber_max_pct_of_baseline": 110,
  "green_max_pct_of_baseline": 95
}