The federal government is tackling antimicrobial resistance with a ‘One Health’ approach. But what is One Health and what can it offer that other approaches haven’t?
Classifying e-cigarettes as a nicotine replacement therapy could help the tobacco industry influence health policy.
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Classing e-cigarettes as quit smoking aids could help rebrand the tobacco industry as a legitimate player in health policy. Here’s why we should be concerned.
Should the government be able to use intellectual property laws to control who can criticise its health policies by using the Medicare logo?
AAP/Joel Carrett
Using intellectual property laws to try to shut down Mark Rogers’ ‘Save Medicare’ website shows how these laws serve to restrict free speech and advance government privatisation agendas.
There should be a tax on sugary drinks and people need assistance to quit.
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A collaboration of Australia’s leading scientists, clinicians and health organisations announce ten priority policy actions needed for Australia to reach its health targets by the year 2025.
A tax on sugary drinks wouldn’t just prevent obesity, it could recoup some of the costs from obesity to the taxpayer.
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Obesity imposes enormous costs on the community, through higher taxes to fund extra government spending on health and from foregone tax revenue because obese people are more likely to be unemployed.
How might US president-elect Donald Trump address Obamacare’s rising costs?
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The decision to tax sugary drinks in South Africa faces furious industry opposition, but global experience shows industry cannot be trusted to put public health before profits.
Bernie Sanders at a recent rally in support of ColoradoCare, a universal health care initiative.
The Associated Press
Tired of escalating health care costs, health care policymakers in Colorado have put a vote for universal coverage on the ballot in that state. Could the other states learn anything from it?
Bernie Sanders fans gather at a recent rally in support of universal coverage in Colorado.
The Associated Press
A disease that we have known about for more than 100 years still defies proper description and a consensus on how to tackle it.
Personal care attendants are responsible for residents’ personal hygiene – they’re not trained to undertake more complex assessments.
Reuters/Christian Hartmann
Nursing home providers looking to cut costs are bypassing registered nurses and employing less-skilled personal care attendants (PCAs) who aren’t trained for the job.
Some regions have had rates of preventable hospital admissions 50% above the state average for more than a decade.
Marcos Mesa Sam Wordley/Shutterstock
People ending up in hospital for diabetes, tooth decay, or other conditions that should be treatable or manageable out of hospital is a warning sign of system failure.
This approach will help concentrate efforts on evidence and value rather than ideologically based, slash-and-burn approaches.
AAP Image/Fairfax Media Pool/Andrew Meares
The government must do more to deliver a 21st-century health system – not just to improve its standing with voters but to meet the health needs of all Australians.
The debate about ageing needs to move away from claiming the sky will fall in because of the ageing of the population.
Pressmaster/Shutterstock
Health policy was an important factor in the election outcome, but one of the most important issues in the health sector – the impact of out-of-pocket costs – was mostly ignored.
There is a strong political and economic case for the government to cut its support for private insurance and to restore Medicare to its original role.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Scare campaigns only work if there is some anxiety to build on. Labor’s Medicare campaign plugged into a long history of Coalition ambivalence – or open hostility – towards Medicare.
Policy differences will play a central role in deciding the outcome of the 2016 election.
AAP/Joe Castro
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne