What happened to Medicare GP mental health items in November 2025?

GP mental health care items were removed from Medicare in November 2025. The RACGP has said the removal has been a real struggle for patients, particularly those needing longer consultations. A Medicare review has drafted a recommendation to increase rebates for long and prolonged consultations, which the RACGP backs as a way to reduce out-of-pocket costs for patients.

How does the November 2025 Medicare change affect access to mental health care with a GP?

Without the dedicated mental health consultation items, extended GP mental health consultations are billed under standard long consultation items at a rebate that may not match the time and complexity involved. Patients can still discuss mental health with their GP, but the out-of-pocket gap for longer consultations has increased for those who are not bulk-billed.

One year on from Medicare's mental health cuts, GPs want the funding back

What just happened

World Mental Health Day arrived on Saturday with a specific ask from the RACGP: restore the Medicare GP mental health items removed in November 2025 and increase rebates for the long and complex consultations that mental health care in general practice actually requires.

The WHO’s 2026 theme — “Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change” — landed with particular resonance against a policy that, in the RACGP’s account, made it harder to access GP mental health care. RACGP President Dr Michael Wright described the November 2025 removal as “a real struggle” for patients.

The numbers behind this are not small. Mental health is consistently the top reason Australians present to a GP. One in eight Australians — 12.5% — saw a GP for their mental health in the past year. A further finding from Mental Health Australia: 47% of Australians report feeling less connected to others than they did a decade ago, and one in five people aged 18 to 24 say they have no friends or family they can count on for support.

Both-and

The case for restoring the items

The Medicare GP mental health consultation items created a visible, billable pathway for extended mental health consultations in general practice. When removed, that pathway became a standard long consultation — billable at the same rate as a diabetes review, with a rebate that does not reflect the time and complexity a mental health presentation typically requires.

The Medicare review has drafted a recommendation to increase rebates for long and prolonged consultations. The RACGP is backing that recommendation and linking it explicitly to the November 2025 change. The argument: GPs are doing mental health work regardless of how it is coded, the funding structure should reflect that, and the gap between the rebate and the true cost of a long consultation is a real barrier for patients who cannot bridge it out-of-pocket.

Women at midlife carry a disproportionate mental health burden — perimenopause, caregiving load, career transitions. The cohort most likely to need an extended GP mental health consultation is not the cohort best positioned to absorb a higher gap fee.

Why the removal happened — and what hasn’t changed

Mental health items were not removed carelessly. The reform reflected a view that mental health care should be integrated into standard GP consultations rather than separated into a distinct billing pathway. The argument has some internal logic: a long consultation for complex chronic disease already encompasses a patient’s mental state.

The problem is that the transition removed the funding signal before replacing it with anything equivalent. The Medicare review recommendation is the proposed replacement — but it has not yet been adopted. In the meantime, the out-of-pocket cost for a long GP mental health consultation has increased for patients paying at the margin.

Where this leaves patients

If cost has been a barrier to raising mental health with your GP, that cost pressure is a known policy problem being actively argued for at the national level. It is worth asking your GP practice what the out-of-pocket cost for a longer consultation is, and whether bulk-billing or concession arrangements apply to your situation.

The Medicare review recommendation, if adopted, would directly reduce the gap. That decision sits with government — and the RACGP is using World Mental Health Day to say so plainly.

My two cents

The November 2025 removal of GP mental health items landed unevenly. For patients at bulk-billing practices, the practical impact may have been minimal. For patients paying out-of-pocket for extended consultations, the gap increased. The RACGP’s call to restore the pathway and fund it properly is a call to close that inequity.

If you are struggling, your GP is still the front door. The billing structure does not change what care is available — only what it costs you to access it. If cost is an obstacle, say so; many practices have arrangements for patients in difficulty.

Verdict: yes — the access pressure is real, the policy ask is clear, and the out-of-pocket cost for extended GP mental health care is worth raising with your practice directly.

Sources cited

RACGP: World Mental Health Day is a call to listen to lived experience and restore Medicare mental health funding. RACGP Media Release, 10 October 2026. https://www.racgp.org.au/gp-news/media-releases/2026-media-releases/october-2026/racgp-world-mental-health-day-is-a-call-to-listen