Doctors fear sick Australians will swamp emergency waiting rooms like they do in the UK, if the federal government doesn't reverse course on its changes to general practice.
And the poor and under-privileged would be hardest hit.
Britain's National Health Service is in crisis as patients fill emergency departments, causing blow-outs in waiting times and forcing hospitals to cancel operations, call in extra staff and ration access to care, the Australian Medical Association says.
Australia could also see an increase in people turning up at hospitals seeking free care, scared off by the higher cost of seeing a GP or delaying seeking emergency care.
"They are sicker, and they are much more expensive to treat," says AMA vice-president Stephen Parnis.
The changes, unveiled last month, include a $20 cut to the Medicare rebate for GP Level B consultations lasting less than 10 minutes, from $37.05 to $16.95. This is due to start on January 19.
A further $5 cut to GP rebates comes in from July 1, on top of a near-six-year freeze on Medicare rebate indexation.
The AMA believes these changes will lead to increased out-of-pocket expenses for patients and higher health costs.
Dr Michael Levick, Chair of General Practice at the Victorian branch of the Australian Medical Association, said the increased costs would hit the poor and under-privileged the hardest.
"It's going to affect the people with mental disorders, the people with drug and alcohol abuse, migrants that haven't got jobs yet, refugees and all the underprivileged in our community," Dr Levick told reporters on Tuesday.
The government has defended the changes, saying they were designed to tackle the problem of "six-minute medicine" as previously raised by the AMA.
It says the post-January 19 rebates will encourage GPs to spend longer with their patients, pushing back against the competitive pressure for shorter consultation times.
"Under current rules, a GP can access Medicare rebates for up to 20 minutes, even if their patient is in and out the door in six minutes," a spokesman for federal health minister Sussan Ley said.
"These changes more accurately reflect the time a doctor spends with their patient and encourage longer GP consultations for better health outcomes."
Greens senator and former GP Richard Di Natale said the Greens would move to disallow the government's reforms when the Senate resumes.
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