Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has made a powerful enemy in the GP community who are attacking his Medicare policy in a scathing new ad. Picture: AFP

Doctors will launch TV advertisements to warn patients they will have to pay to see a doctor as they escalate their campaign against the Turnbull government’s six year freeze on Medicare rebates.

In an unprecedented move the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners will on Sunday launch two advertisements depicting a mother and a young girl delaying medical treatment they can’t afford.

A doctor and patient in scene from ads criticising the Turnbull Government’s proposed changes to bulk billing. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied

“The Federal Government’s freeze on Medicare rebates means you’ll pay more to see a doctor,” the Advertisements say.

“In Australia your wealth should not affect your health”.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has put GPs off-side with his controversial Medicare policy. Picture: AP Photo/Rob GriffithSource:AP

The group normally leaves medical politics to the AMA and its intervention in the election campaign underlines the depth of outrage in the medical community against the Medicare freeze.

Doctors are already displaying posters in their surgeries campaigning against the cuts and some are printing protest messages on prescriptions.

Two thirds of doctors have told two separate surveys they are planning to end bulk billing and introduce a $15 fee to see a doctor as a result of the freeze.

RACGP president Dr Frank Jones says the freeze will cost doctors on average $50,000 in income a year and to survive financially they will have to end bulk billing.

The ads will run until the federal election on July 2 but Dr Jones denies the ads are political.

“The RACGP has no political affiliation we simply want to engage with patients about the fiscal consequences of this policy,” he says.

She can’t afford it . a scene from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners’s ads about changes to bulk billing. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied

An unhappy patient can’t afford fees in a new TV ad taking aim at the Coalition’s six-year freeze on Medicare rebates. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied

The Labor Party last week committed to lifting the Medicare rebate freeze from January next year, it has also pledged to scrap the government’s $5 hike in prescription medicine prices.

Health Minister Sussan Ley this week said she understood doctors concerns about the cuts but said Treasury and Finance were not allowing her to end them.

Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull said the Medicare freeze could be absorbed because bulk billing rates had never been higher.

A family struggles to cop the cost of paying for a doctor’s visit in a new ad attacking the Turnbull Government. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied

In a separate video posted on YouTube Dr Jones tells patients GP practices in some lower socio-economic areas will have to close as a result of the campaign.

“The message is clear GPs will not be able to bulk bill if the freeze continues and if you are sick you’ll pay more for being sick and no-one will be immune,” he said.

“Our college is now is the midst of one of our biggest public advocacy campaigns to alert patients and the general public about the profound ramifications to their health care provision at their very own GP,” he says.

Outgoing Australian Medical Association president Dr Brian Owler also lashed the government over its health policy in his parting address to the Australian Medical Association.

He says the government deliberately froze doctors and other medical groups out of decision making.

“As confirmed by the Minister herself this week, the health portfolio is not run by the Minister for Health. It is run by Treasury and Finance,” he said.

“The freeze is not just about GPs. It is about the out of pocket expenses for patients seeing a specialist or undergoing medical procedures. It affects the whole of the health system,” Professor Owler said.