GP wait times were longer and costs of health care deterred more people from seeing a doctor in the ACT than interstate last year, a Productivity Commission report has found.
The ACT had the highest percentage of people deferring a doctor visit due to costs, at 8.1 per cent, nearly double the national average but a 1.6 per cent improvement compared to 2014-2015.
People were also more likely to defer using prescribed medicines due to costs in the ACT, where 7.8 per cent reported a financial barrier, the commission's report on government services found.
While bulk-billing rates increased to 60.3 per cent, a 2.2 per cent rise on last year, they remained well below the nation's 85.4 per cent average.
The ACT continued to have fewer GPs, recording 73.2 per 100,000 people. The figure increased by four from 2014-2015 but was still the lowest rate among all states and territories, and less than the 97.4 national rate.
ACT patients also waited longer to have an urgent appointment with GPs, as only 40.4 per cent saw a doctor within four hours compared to the 63.6 per cent national average.
Meanwhile, patients in the ACT were less satisfied with their GPs, recording 90.1 per cent of people who believed their doctor always or often listened to them carefully, the second lowest figure and below the 91.6 per cent national average.
In public hospitals, fewer ACT patients believed their doctor listened carefully to, showed respect to or spent enough time with them than those in other states and territories.
However the number of available hospital beds was above average, at 2.8 per 1000 people.
Satisfaction rates with the ACT's ambulance service were high, at 98 per cent, according to the Productivity Commission.
Ambulance response times at 13.7 minutes were the nation's fastest, although 1.2 minutes longer than last year.
The ACT's ambulance service also answered 96.6 per cent of calls from the emergency call service in 10 seconds or less.
More young people accessed subsidised mental health care services, increasing from 6.2 per cent of people aged under 25 in 2014-2015 to 6.9 per cent last year.
Child immunisation rates were the nation's second-highest at 93.5 per cent, and cases of hospitalisation for potentially preventable conditions were the lowest, at 19 per 1000 people.
Federal government spending on GPs per person rose $6 to $270.2 in the ACT, below the $365 national average.
Government spending on public hospitals was above average at $2,806 per person, a $67.7 increase on last year.