Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has accused radiologists of "selling out" to the federal government after the industry labelled his policies an insult.
The Australian Diagnostic Imaging Association says it's been left out of Labor's $2.4 billion commitment to unfreeze indexation on the Medicare rebate.
It says Labor's policy ignores the 18-year funding freeze diagnostic imaging has endured, which has seen patient gap payments for scans and x-rays double in the past decade.
Mr Shorten on Saturday rejected the criticism, insisting Labor was the defender of bulk billing.
"Some of the radiologist leadership ... have sold out for a couple of coins from the government about rent reform," he told reporters in Wyong.
Opposition health spokeswoman Catherine King conceded there was more work to be done to protect bulk-billing rates in radiology but insisted patients would pay more for scans under the coalition.
"We know there [are] further things that we need to do to make sure that we can keep radiography affordable for all Australians and we're happy to talk to the radiography industry about that," she said.
"But what is absolutely clear is that this government wants to at every single opportunity transfer costs on to patients."
The association says the average gap for a CT scan is now $145 and $173 for an MRI and those numbers will double again in the next decade unless funding is restored.
Its chief executive Pattie Beerens said Mr Shorten had been touring radiology practices since January promising to protect patients from higher out-of-pocket costs and has called on him to honour those commitments.
"Labor is being disingenuous by campaigning on a policy platform that they won't commit to," she said.
The association has struck a deal with Health Minister Sussan Ley to pause for six months the government's plans to cut bulk-billing incentive payments to the industry.
Ms Ley has promised an independent evaluation into cost pressures faced by the sector if the government wins on July 2.
