HEALTH groups and Labor for months have been warning the Abbott government was about introduce a "GP tax".
And Treasurer Joe Hockey obliged in his first budget on Tuesday by confirming Australians would be slugged $7 to visit the doctor.
The measure spells the end of free GP care for most people.
Only concession card holders and children will escape the payment, but then only after 10 visits, with their annual co-payments capped at $70.
From July 2015 those who now pay nothing to visit the doctor will have to fork out $7, with $5 going into the soon-to-be-created Medical Research Future Fund.
Even those who aren't bulked billed will pay $5 more, with cuts to their Medicare refund.
The measure means $3.5 billion will be pumped into the medical research fund over five years.
The co-payment is certain to anger health groups who have argued it signals an end to universal health care.
They warn some people will skip treatment, and clog hospital emergency departments.
But Mr Hockey said health services had never been free to taxpayers, and Australians were simply being asked to make a "modest" contribution to their cost.
"Australians are always prepared to make a reasonable contribution if they they're money is not wasted," he told parliament.
On top of the Medicare co-payment - which also applies to out-of-hospital pathology and imaging services - Australians will also have to pay more for subsidised medicines.
The government wants a $5 increase in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme co-payment, arguing current spending on the PBS was more than $9 billion a year.
Concession card holders will have to pay an extra 80 cents for each subscription, in a measure that will save the budget $1.3 billion over four years.
Australians will also be hit by measure to pause the indexation of non-GP Medicare rebates for two years, and by not indexing the income thresholds for the Private Health Insurance Rebate and the Medicare Levy Surcharge for three.
The PBS safety net, which protects patients who require a lot of medicine, will also be increased to $1597.80 from next January.
The change means they'll have to pay almost $150 more before being eligible for cheaper medicines.
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