Indigenous health services are calling for immunity from the $7 co-payment for visits to the doctor until the Closing the Gap targets are met.

A group of Aboriginal health leaders will meet in Canberra today in an attempt to resolve concerns about the co-payment.

The Federal Government wants to charge the $7 fee for GP visits, pathology and radiology from July next year.

"When Aboriginal people get equality in health then we should have the co-payment," National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation board member Julie Tongs said.

"We see the most vulnerable of the vulnerable in our service. We see people that can't afford a loaf of bread or a bottle of milk."

Ms Tongs says the co-payment is regressive.

"I think it's going to take us back 100 years with health," she said.

"It's not just about the co-payment to see the doctor. When you have a high burden of disease and chronic disease you need blood tests so there is another payment for pathology.

"If you have a scan or an X-ray that's another co-payment."

She says patients would be slugged with an additional charge for medication, and there are added problems if money is collected and kept at the health services.

"Desperate people do desperate things and when you bring money in ... it puts other clients and staff at risk," she said.

A spokesman for Assistant Minister for Health Fiona Nash says the Government provides "core funding" to Aboriginal Medical Services (AMS) and that funding will not change in 2014-15.

"In addition, a number of AMSs can also claim Medicare for patient visits. It will still be up to the GP to decide what they charge, including if they charge a co-payment," the spokesman said in a statement.

AMA calls for special provisions in Indigenous health

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) says Indigenous health should be considered a "special case" in the debate over co-payments.

AMA president Steve Hambleton says the Government should consider all options to continue the momentum for improved Indigenous health.

"We want to keep the barriers to access for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander care low," he said.

The AMA says while the Government has argued that doctors can waive the GP fee on compassionate grounds, that is not the full story.

Dr Hambleton says doctors that do not charge the co-payment will face a financial disincentive.

"Doctors can continue to bulk bill. But the stinger in that is that the rebate has dropped so they'll be bulk billing at a lower rate," he said.

He says at the moment a standard bulk-billed GP visit is worth $42, but after the introduction of the co-payment doctors are likely to get about $31 for the same standard consultation if they continue to bulk bill and do not charge the fee.

"For concession card holders and those under 16, doctors will also miss out on the bulk-billing incentive," Dr Hambleton said.

The AMA estimates many doctors could see a reduction of between 12.5 and 25 per cent in their earnings if they refuse to charge the co-payment.

AMA disputes Treasurer's chronic claim

Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey last night assured the audience of the ABC's Q&A program that people with a chronic illness would not have to pay the GP co-payment.

An audience member who detailed a range of chronic illnesses questioned the Treasurer about how he would be able to survive on a Disability Support Pension and pay large amounts for many GP visits and other health costs.

"From what you said you would not be hit by the so-called Medicare co-payment," Mr Hockey said.

"You wouldn't, because you would be on a care plan with your doctor ... In that situation you are not affected by the co-payment."

But the Australian Medical Association warns a very small number of consultations for chronic illness will be exempt.

Dr Hambleton says the exemption would only apply for the original Chronic Disease Plan appointment with a GP and a review every few months.

He says other consultations for the associated illnesses that a patient is likely to experience with a chronic disease will not be covered by the exemption.