The ambitious voluntary patient enrolment scheme appears to have stalled.
Despite its promise to fundamentally change the way patients access care, two in three Medicare-card-holding Australians still have no idea what MyMedicare is, data from the 2025 National Consumer Sentiment Survey report shows.
The Consumers Health Forum of Australia surveyed 5160 people in early 2025 and found that 48.7% said they didn’t get medical care they needed in the past year, citing cost as the main reason.
And costs prevented 67.0% from seeing a dentist, 54.2% from filling scripts and 48.7% from tests or treatments.
Just over half (50.6%) of respondents were “very” or “extremely” confident they could access “quality, safe care” if they were seriously sick, but only 32.3% were confident they could afford it.
MyMedicare was launched in October 2023 and fits into the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing’s larger plan to move general practice care beyond fee-for-service.
While it was originally intended to have multiple incentive programs attached, the only patient-facing program up and running is the general practice in aged care incentive.
There was meant to be a similar incentive program for frequent hospital users, but that was officially ditched late last year.
According to the CHF report, the proportion of respondents who had heard of MyMedicare remained stable across both the 2024 and 2025 surveys.
Of the 33% of people who said they were aware of MyMedicare, just over half were already registered with the program.
“The modest registration rate among those aware (54.0%) further highlights a gap between awareness and action, possibly due to uncertainty about the benefits of MyMedicare or a lack of perceived urgency to register,” the report said.
On the plus side, the report said, the high satisfaction with the MyMedicare registration process – reported as easy by 78.2% of users – “is a positive indicator for future uptake”.
AMA vice president Associate Professor Julian Rait told The Medical Republic that 33% awareness was a “disappointing” result.
“Obviously any public interest in MyMedicare is encouraging, and on the other side of the ledger, GPs have signed up in significant numbers to the program,” he said.
“They obviously see the merits of it. I guess the reality, though, is that we have to have plans to provide practices and patients with additional support linked to MyMedicare.
“Maybe there should be more advantages or benefits connected to it … but we need to get back to the reform conversation, I think, with government, and look at how we can improve access to care.”
RACGP president Dr Michael Wright told TMR that if the value proposition of MyMedicare were to change, patient awareness would likely follow.
“The college has been supportive of the concept of enrolment as a way to more clearly link patients with their preferred GP and practice, and also as a way to improving and increased funding for practices and enrolled populations,” he said.
The CHF survey also found that 57.1% of respondents believe that government spending on healthcare is too low.
The three top priorities for reform were: more health workers (66.7% of respondents), lower costs for care and medicines (60.2%), and better access (43.1%).
“Australians are very clear about what they expect government to do next,” CHF CEO Dr Elizabeth Deveny said.
“They want a health system that is easier to access, easier to afford and supported by a strong workforce.
“The upcoming federal budget is an opportunity to strengthen those foundations – by supporting the workforce, reducing out-of-pocket costs and making sure Medicare reforms translate into real improvements in people’s day-to-day
experience of care.”
Dr Deveny said the survey showed that the health system “performs clinically but is becoming harder to navigate financially”.
“Australians respect their clinicians and the care they receive. But the cost pressures sitting around that care are creating risk for the system as a whole,” Dr Deveny said.
“When people delay scripts, skip tests or avoid dental care because of price, those pressures eventually show up elsewhere in the system.
“Affordability is not just a consumer issue – it is a system sustainability issue.
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“Australians still trust the care they receive. What they don’t trust is whether they can afford it when they need it.
“That gap between confidence in care and confidence in affordability is the fault line in our health system. If people delay care because of cost, then universal care exists on paper but not in practice.”
Nine out of 10 patients rate GPs highly
Almost nine out of 10 respondents said they were happy with the care they received from their GP.
“High satisfaction with in-person healthcare services in 2025 remains a strong point in the Australian healthcare system, particularly for GPs (86.4%), pharmacists (89.0%) and dentists (88.5%).”
There was a preference for continuity of care, with 62.6% of respondents consistently seeing the same GP, 25.2% always going to the same practice but seeing different doctors, while 8.9% often visited different practices, the report said.
More detailed responses showed that:
- almost nine in 10 (87.2%) believed that it was important or very important to see a GP on the day they were sick (compared with 86.7% in 2024);
- four in five (85.5%) believed that it was important or very important to always go to the same GP (85.5% in 2024);
- four in five (83.1%) believed that it was important or very important to access bulk-billing (81.7% in 2024);
- four in five (82.0%) believed that it was important or very important to speak to the same GP (80.6% in 2024).
One in three seek after-hours care
In 2025 nearly a third people (31.7%) accessed after-hours healthcare, which was up slightly on 2024 (29.9%).
The figures also show that the number of people going to emergency departments dropped very slightly, while the numbers going to after-hours GPs or UCCs increased compared to the previous year.
Among those who accessed after-hours healthcare: 57.8% went to an emergency department in person (versus 59.5% in 2024); 20.1% went to an after-hours GP (versus 18.5% in 2024); and 20%) went to UCC or priority primary care clinic (versus 16.2% in 2024).
But 45% of respondents said it was “somewhat or very difficult” to access after‑hours care without visiting an emergency department.
“In 2025, patterns of navigating healthcare and interacting with providers were largely consistent with 2024, with most respondents accessing in-person care and similar preferences for GP services,” the report said.
“Use of telehealth, home-based care and after-hours care, as well as satisfaction with these options, remained stable, with the majority rating telehealth quality comparable to in-person care.”
Telehealth: convenient but not so personal
Almost 60% of respondents said telehealth was more convenient than face-to-face appointments, but 40.8% believed it wasn’t as helpful for building relationships with doctors.
That suggests that telehealth should be complementary and not replace in-person consultations, the report said.
Almost a third of respondents accessed after-hours care, and three in five of those went to an emergency department, “potentially reflecting limited availability of other after-hours care”.
Not surprisingly, the adjusted analysis found that respondents who were younger, had higher incomes, lived in metropolitan areas or used the internet twice a day (compared to three or more times daily) had significantly less difficulty accessing after-hours care.
“The findings suggest barriers accessing after-hours healthcare services for older adults, lower income earners and those in rural or regional areas, highlighting structural inequities in service availability and accessibility that may require targeted strategies to ensure equitable access,” the report said.
The report couldn’t explain the correlation between internet usage and accessing after-hours healthcare, though, and said it was an “unexpected result”.
“We anticipate that moderate users (twice daily) may use it more purposefully for tasks such as booking appointments, whereas heavier users (three or more times daily) might include those who use the internet for social or entertainment purposes.
“As our survey did not capture the specific purposes of their internet use, this interpretation remains speculative.”
