Medicare changes alive and well: Labor

Labor claims the Abbott government's GP co-payment is alive and well, having been relabelled a "modest contribution".

Prime Minister Tony Abbott declared on Tuesday the $5 co-payment was "dead, buried and cremated" - a phrase he repeated to parliament on Wednesday.

But under questioning from Labor, Health Minister Sussan Ley told parliament she was continuing talks with doctors about getting the bulk-billing rate down via patient contributions.

"We need to protect bulk-billing for the vulnerable," she said.

But the government also needed to make sure its policy reflected those with the ability to pay a modest contribution for visits to the doctor continued to do so.

Labor health spokeswoman Catherine King said that was no different from what the government had been seeking to do - cut bulk-billing rates, end universal healthcare and impose greater out-of-pocket expenses for patients.

"All that's changed is the language," she said.

About 82 per cent of doctor visits are bulk-billed - a rate that has risen steadily since 2003/04, when Mr Abbott was health minister.

Asked by Opposition Leader Bill Shorten whether the government intended to limit bulk-billing to children and concessional patients, Mr Abbott said: "Absolutely no and no."

"Any government imposed co-payment, any co-payment, is dead, buried and cremated," he said.

The government has yet to say what will replace its policy announced in the May 2014 budget.

Ms Ley said she was looking at system-wide approaches that gave doctors the flexibility to make fee-setting arrangements for their practice as well as reducing bulk-billed consultations to people who could afford to "pay something".