Ally Finnis has battled chronic medical conditions for years but health isn't their only worry when booking an appointment with a doctor or nurse.
"Cost is very much a concern that's forefront of my mind whenever I am looking at health care and accessing treatments," the 29-year-old told AAP.
Ally Finnis needs a GP to help organise subsidised physiotherapy appointments to treat muscle and joint pain.
However, they haven't been able to find any GP appointments close to home in Mount Gambier, near the Victoria-South Australia border.
"I have had to defer creating a chronic health care management plan just because there are no clinics currently accepting new patients ... that's having flow-on effects in terms of my physical wellbeing," they said.
Ally Finnis is among almost one in 10 Australians who can't afford their medical care so instead skip or delay treatment, according to the Consumers Health Forum of Australia.
Just under one-third of Australians were confident they could afford care if they became seriously ill and a similar number said costs stopped them going to the dentist, according to the forum's survey of some 5000 people in late 2024.
Even patients who managed to find bulk-billed medical appointments often encountered out-of-pocket costs for medicines or scans, the forum's chief executive Elizabeth Deveny said.
"The richer and the older you are, the better your healthcare experience is likely to be and that tells you really everything about how unequal the system has become," she said.
"People aren't asking for miracles, they're asking for the care that they need to be affordable and available."
Just over 10 per cent of Australia's total economic activity was spent on health goods and services in 2023/24, according to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare figures released on Wednesday.
That's equivalent to $10,037 per person, however spending went backwards by $134 in real terms in just one year when compared to the previous 12 months.
Dr Deveny called for a shake-up to health spending at all levels of government, including boosting the workforce, introducing more prevention programs and promoting schemes that save patients money like Medicare's Safety Net.
She also called for more financial incentives for health professionals to take on extra work, similar to how the federal government paid trained workers who took on vaccinating duties during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We're either paying it out of our pocket with our own cash, or we're paying it through taxes or through insurance premiums," Dr Deveny said.
"We're always paying for it and Australians are saying that they want better value for the money."
