Doctors will ask patients to join their fight against the government's freeze on Medicare rebates in a widespread campaign planned to coincide with the election.
From Monday, GPs will move to warn patients about the budget measure and encourage them to lobby against it.
Last week's budget extended by two years to 2020 a four-year indexation freeze on the Medicare rebate the federal government pays for services like GP visits.
The government expects the move will save almost $1 billion, but the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners says it will leave patients worse off, especially the disadvantaged.
The college has prepared handouts for GPs and patients and, from Monday, waiting rooms will be adorned with posters declaring: "You and your family's health is being targeted. The extended freeze on Medicare rebates means you will pay more."
Patients and GPs will also be given template letters to send to political candidates, to voice concerns about the planned freeze and call for a commitment to long-term funding.
It's time for politicians to publicly declare their support for Medicare, RACGP president Frank Jones says.
The freeze will threaten the viability of GP businesses and some patients, who would generally be bulk-billed, may have to contribute money for consultations, he says.
It means sick people may delay GP visits, eventually costing more when they present to a hospital with potentially worse symptoms, Dr Jones says.
"It is going to prove impossible to continue this level of quality if this freeze continues," he told AAP.
"Unfortunately, we're putting wealth before health here."
Bulk-billing rates for GP services are at an all-time high of 84.3 per cent, having continued to rise about one per cent each year even after the freeze began in 2013.
The health department can't predict whether the freeze will leave patients facing higher out-of-pocket costs, department deputy secretary Andrew Stuart said last week.
For patients who aren't bulk-billed, out-of-pocket costs have continued to increase by an average of five or six per cent every year as they have for most of the decade, he said.
