In the final instalment of our series, Lesley Russell asks whether Australians need private health insurance, and what a two-tiered systems means for quality, access and equity.
Articles on Health economics
Displaying 181 - 200 of 271 articles
Any new such financing system would need to carefully balance competition and choice, with affordability of coverage and equal access to quality care.
Private insurance, by its very nature, suppresses price signals and encourages over-servicing and cost escalation.
Some people balk at the cost of private insurance – especially the relatively young and healthy – because they don’t see the value of it when they are already covered under Medicare.
How much do Australians pay for private health insurance?
The half of Australians who have private health insurance will be face higher bills from Wednesday, as insurance premiums increase by an industry average of 6.18%.
All Australian residents have access to Medicare, so why do half the population also decide to take out private health insurance?
What happens when you bring a state health minister face-to-face with her two main challengers, fronting a roomful of health experts, without any TV cameras to leap on any “gaffes” or stumbles?
As well as being responsible for a large share of total costs, people who visit the GP more often are more likely to live in the most disadvantaged areas, and to report being in poor health.
Green MP Caroline Lucas estimated that introducing market structures to the NHS costs over £10 billion a year – but is this true?
Health Minister Sussan Ley is broadly correct on the numbers – but they are framed in a way that overstates the impression of rising health care expenditure.
The Commonwealth appears to have its health outlays more or less under control. The problem for the states, however, is dire.
The link between exercise, diet and ill health has been recognised for a considerable length of time. The ancient Greek physician, Hippocrates (460-370BC), wrote: Eating alone will not keep a man well…
The Abbott government “reset” yesterday provides a valuable opportunity to reconsider health policies based on the idea that Australia’s health system is unsustainable. But first it will need to embrace…
The Christmas-New Year silly season gave Australia three health policies. At the start of December, the policy from the 2014 budget was still on life support. But in mid-December, then-health minister…
As the 2015 parliamentary year approaches, The Conversation is examining five key policy areas that have a new minister in charge: health, immigration, defence, social services and science. Today we begin…
It’s a sign of how much has changed in a few years that health has barely featured in the Queensland election campaign, despite being one of the issues that voters still say they care most about. That…
In 2010, the Greek economy entered a deep, structural and multi-faceted crisis, the main features of which were a large fiscal deficit, huge public debt and the continuous erosion of the country’s competitive…
The Abbott government is struggling with its Medicare co-payment reform, scrapping the latest version for a period of consultation, starting this week. The government claims it wants to make Medicare sustainable…
“It might do me some good and it won’t hurt to give it a go.” How often have you heard a phrase like this? Most people have naïve optimism about medical care. That’s the finding of a systematic review…
Top contributors
-
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne
-
Program Director, Health and Aged Care, Grattan Institute
-
Professor and Director, Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie University
-
Professor of Health Economics, The University of Melbourne
-
Professor of Health Economics and Director, Centre for Health Economics, Monash Business School, Monash University
-
Reader in Health Economics, Centre for Health Economics, University of York
-
Professor of Health Economics, Flinders University
-
Adjunct Associate Professor, Menzies Centre for Health Policy and Economics, University of Sydney
-
Professor of Health Economics and Director, Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation, University of Technology Sydney
-
Health economist, University of Sydney
-
Professor, Public Service Research, UNSW Sydney
-
Senior Policy Adviser, National Rural Health Alliance; Adjunct Lecturer, University of Sydney
-
Jim Gillespie is a Friend of The Conversation.
Associate Professor in Health Policy, Leeder Centre for Health Policy, Economics and Data & Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney
-
Lecturer, Public Sector Finance, University of Canberra
-
Senior lecturer, Economics Department, University of Technology Sydney
