What's a GP worth?

Wouldn’t practice costs come out of that as well – rent, receptionist, IT, etc?

AdventureTime said :

… there’s no way a bulk-billing (i.e. tax-payer funded) GP would earn anywhere near 600-750K a year!

Yes, I reckon he (and/or Sammy Hajj) are lying about this, as well as most of his ‘difficulties’. Hopefully, the prosecutors chase up these details (how much had Medicare paid him each tax year? did he even own three properties? were they reposessed? had he filed for bankruptcy? was he receiving – or even registered – with Centrelink, and if so, since what date? did any of his bank accounts have $10K in it?).

Then, any proven dishonesty can off-set the character references he tenders to the court, and when he pleads bipolar/alcoholism/no-hugs-as-a-kid.

Am so tired of basic lies going unchallenged in court, when confected hard-luck stories dissuade judges (who are already p!ss-weak) from obliterating predators.

As well as the medicare fraud unit, I’m hoping the ATO also reads the news…

One would assume the solicitor is quoting his income after overheads (like whatever he pays to the clinic). Maybe it did include his rental properties, but what possible benefit would there be to the solicitor overstating his income?

I’m not going to disagree that sports professionals bring less benefit to society, but I think 100-200k per annum should be enough for any GP to extract from the public purse. There are no market forces operating if they all charge the same.

IP

IP

Between working as a GP and having three rental properties, he might have earned 12-15K a week the weeks he was working, which after you account for leave and public holidays comes out somewhere between 40-48 weeks. Then you also need to factor in the fees he pays to the medical centres he works at which could be in the region of 30-50% of his GP income. You also need to factor in the costs of his rentals which were all mortgaged by the sound of the article and were quite probably negatively geared as the bank repossessed them. All up his net income from being a GP may have been up to $350,000. Given that the Medicare reimbursement rates are less than half of the typical GP consultation fee I doubt that his patients were reimbursed more than $200,000. So I’ll take IP’s wager that more than $300-375,000 came from the taxpayer.

To address the question how much is a GP worth? I’d ask how much is a professional sportsperson worth? The former helps us stay healthier and extend our lives while the latter provides entertainment. The former undertakes formal study for many years after finishing school while the latter can go straight from school to earning big money. The former can maintain their earning potential for many years after the latter but the big injection of funds early in life makes a big difference to long term wealth if managed properly.

In the end it comes down to what people are willing to pay – the heart of a market based economy. To me it says that we value sports entertainment more than we value our health and that the value we place on our health is more than double what the government effectively pays GP’s through Medicare.

How can you earn that much and sqaunder it all (esp in Canberra)? The guy is clearly not only a sleazebag but an idiot. Glad our taxes have been supporting this fool for so long

I know lots of GP’s and none of them make anywhere near that amount of money. A full time GP seeing 5+ patients an hour, with a high proportion of non bulk-billed patients, might earn around 250K per year. Most GP’s earn much less than that, and there’s no way a bulk-billing (i.e. tax-payer funded) GP would earn anywhere near 600-750K a year!

The Medicare fee structure is interesting, as-is what is paid to doctors for certain things. They might charge the client $70-odd for a normal consultation, but depending on what else they’re running, they can claim extra payments from Medicare for certain things.

For instance, if you’re old and fat, you might get pinged by “your” GP for a bunch of tests… weight, blood pressure, blood tests and an ECG. The government pays them a bunch of dough for that, as it’s to try and ID people at risk of developing lifestyle illnesses like Type II.

Or, another example, you go to the GP and they diagnose a high-prevalence mental condition, like depression or anxiety. They do up a Mental Health Treatment Plan. They get a payment back from Medicare for doing that.

The client doesn’t see a lot of this stuff, but it makes a significant contribution to the incomes of GPs. And a debatable contribution to the well-being of the clients. Um, I mean patients.

By all accounts, her spent most his time kissing and fondling patients without their consent.

Just wondering, is that bulk billed or is some of it claimable through Medicare?

He probably worked long hours, did a lot of after hours work and house calls which are worth huge money, and charged a very large gap.

It’s a pity he was too stupid to save any of it for a rainy day.