A man unable to stand and a child with a broken wrist have turned to a Neighbourhood House, unsure where else to go for help.
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They are two of the many Australians dealing with a lack of affordable healthcare options.
Tasmania's Starting Point Neighbourhood House manager Nettie Burr said accessing a bulk billing general practitioner (GP) was extremely difficult.
"We have had people that's called in with a child that's hurt their hand and they've called in to see if they really had to go to the doctor or not because they didn't want to spend the money if they didn't need to ... because that money can be used elsewhere, like to buy food and pay the rent," she said.
Ms Burr said a man in his sixties who couldn't stand had also come to Neighbourhood House.
"We ended up ringing an ambulance for him but he said that he gets up to accident and emergency via ambulance and then he gets sent home without any services or support," she said.
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She said it was concerning people felt they couldn't access healthcare.
"With the cost of living ... especially if you're on government benefits when there's no spare income people have to make a decision, am I going to buy good food? Am I going to go to the doctor? Am I going to go to the dentist? Am I going to travel," she said.
"Often medication and health is the thing that gets whittled the most."
Ms Burr said a lack of bulk billing doctors meant people had to travel to find affordable healthcare, often having to find transport and arrange childcare.
Regional Australia 'a canary in the coal mine'
RACGP Tasmania chairman and GP Dr Tim Jackson said bulk billing had become unsustainable for GPs, with Medicare item numbers not keeping up with the price of providing a GP service.
Dr Jackson said GPs made about half as much money on a standard consult when they bulk billed.
"We're seeing that particularly rural and remote [practices], they're sort of the canary in the coal mine and they're starting to close," he said.
Dr Jackson said increasing the bulk billing rate GPs get from the Commonwealth would be a simple solution, but thought it unlikely the government would increase it enough to cover all Australians.
He said there needed to be a mixed funding model which would bulk bill people such as the elderly, children and those on low incomes.
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People on higher incomes would pay a private fee, some of which they could get back on Medicare, but a portion would go back to the practice.
"Unless something drastic is done to improve the funding for general practice and patient access we're in big strife,"he said.
Dr Jackson said a lack of bulk billing doctors had substantial knock-on effects for the health system.
"It makes sense if a patient can't afford to see their GP and they delay their treatment, then inevitably a certain portion of those people will become more unwell and then their only option is to call the ambulance and go to hospital," he said.
'A perfect storm'
Independent health consultant John Kirwan said access to affordable healthcare in regional and rural Australia was near "crisis point".
He said Australia had been heavily reliant on overseas trained doctors in remote and rural Australia.
Mr Kirwan said while overseas-trained doctors were good doctors, it showed Australia had not been training enough GPs.
He said many Australian doctors were unwilling to work in general practice or relocate to the rural and remote areas.
"That, I think, is a bit of a perfect storm," he said.
"The doctors are not all that keen working by themselves, working 24/7 on call and not having the support services that they'll get in a hospital or in a bigger city, so allied health, social work, a range of other mental health workers and things like that."
Mr Kirwan said with 50 per cent of GP patients having comorbidities with mental health, there needed to be wraparound services so GPs could practise comfortably and safely.
Commonwealth support for health
Minister for Health Mark Butler said the government would increase the number of GPs for communities in need.
Labor committed $146 million during the election for initiatives aimed at attracting and retaining rural and regional health workers.
It also pledged $135 million over four years for Medicare urgent care clinics, set for 50 locations across the nation.
The government plans to grow the health workforce by opening up more Commonwealth supported place university positions and 465,000 free TAFE places nationwide.
"Access to GP services shouldn't be reserved for those that live in our biggest cities," Mr Butler said.
