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?
Very high GP attenders cost Medicare an average of A$3,202 in 2012-13, compared to an Australian average of A$690.
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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.
The Green Party claims the market has pushed up the cost of the NHS.
Peter Byrne/PA Wire
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 2015 Intergenerational Report gives only half the picture of health care spending.
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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…
Discussions about Medicare’s sustainability under the Abbott government have only concerned how much we spend on the health sector.
AAP/Joel Carrett
Jane Hall, University of Technology Sydney and Kees Van Gool, University of Technology Sydney
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…
Non-concession patients may end up paying a A$30 to A$40 co-payment, not a A$5 one.
Pete/Shutterstock
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…
We need a plan to provide patients with the right care at the right place in the right time.
AAP/Alan Porritt
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…
Things are looking up for Queensland health in a number of areas, including the repair of a failed payroll system for health staff and increasing local management of services.
AAP Image/Dan Peled
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…
A blueprint for Medicare reform must include cost control, but also support quality and equity.
Dave Hunt/AAP
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…
Most people overestimate the benefits and underestimate the harms of medical intervention.
Barbara M./Flickr
“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…
Insurance doesn’t always mean you’re protected.
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A few years ago, we met Angie, a hair salon owner in Oregon with health insurance coverage and a stack of unpaid medical bills. She and her husband were both employed – he as a carpenter — and earned about…
The big losers will be ordinary patients.
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In the May budget, the Commonwealth government proposed a A$7 co-payment for GP services and tests done outside a hospital. After seven months of fierce criticism, the government abandoned those plans…
Alarm call: election battle lines are becoming clearer.
Kevin Friery
When he delivers his autumn statement later today, George Osborne will inevitably highlight any good economic news he can. With a general election barely five months away he will ride the jeers of Labour…
Responses to small price signals may be more emotional than rational, but they’re real.
AAP Image/Dave Hunt
Amid last week’s furore over the on-again, off-again Medicare co-payment proposal, Prime Minister Tony Abbott emphasised during Question Time that his government wanted “to see price signals in the system…
Consumers always hope to get the best deal when they make their travel and holiday plans. But so do the airlines.
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How airlines price tickets is a source of many myths and urban legends. These include tips about the best day of the week to buy a ticket, last-minute discounts offered by the airlines, and the conspiracy…
The Five Years Forward View, NHS England’s blueprint for further investment, shows the crisis facing the NHS. There has been a fall in real-terms expenditure because – regardless of what the current government…
Emil Jeyaratnam, The Conversation and Jo Adetunji, The Conversation
The health of a nation is often measured in economic terms – how much a country chooses to spend, where that money comes from, what it spends it on and how much that money translates into quality of care…
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne