In April, private health insurance premiums will increase by an average of 2.92%. It’s the lowest rise in 19 years but still much higher than wages growth. And insurers still make a healthy profit.
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Young people don’t see the value in private health insurance and are dropping their cover in droves. Allowing under 55s to pay lower premiums, based on their lower risk, could keep them in the system.
Patients often want the option to be treated at home rather than being admitted to hospital. But it’s much less likely to happen if you’re a private patient.
The story of how human eggs became an integral part of a multi-billion dollar global fertility industry starts in a unlikely place: the sex lives of farm animals.
Only pharmacists can own a pharmacy and you can’t set one up within 1.5km of an existing one. But calls to loosen these rules could give health companies a green light to set up more chemist chains.
Young people continue to cancel their private health insurance despite discounts to entice them to stay. Instead, we should reduce their premiums based on their likelihood of needing health care.
It is perfectly legal for a doctor working in private practice to charge what they believe is fair and reasonable. But that doesn’t mean it’s OK to charge tens of thousands of dollars for a procedure.
While the majority of aged care funding comes from government, residents also have to contribute. Here’s how the payment system works.
Labor and the Coalition’s health policies and campaign strategy couldn’t be more different this election.
Medicare is a vote-changer. The Coalition learnt this in the 2016 federal election campaign and has since guaranteed its commitment to the program. But that may not avert a Mediscare 2.0.
Health has taken centre stage of the election campaign. Here’s what you need to know to make sense of the claims (and counter claims) of the major parties so far.
Here’s how the Turnbull/Morrison government performed on hospitals, primary care, pharmaceuticals and private health insurance.
It’s important that the proposed reforms do not just fund more care, but support more of the best care.
While the freeze has been blamed for rising out-of-pocket costs for consumers, bulk billing rates haven’t fallen.
Seeking and making sense of specialist fees is an unfair burden to place on vulnerable patients. A website might be helpful for some – but health professionals need to be held to higher account.
Paying doctors a fee for each service they provide isn’t delivering optimal value for the health dollar. Instead, we should pay doctors a lump sum to care for a patient’s medical problem over time.
Subsidies for private health insurance premiums cost the government over A$6 billion a year. Is it time to scrap the rebate and redirect these funds elsewhere in the health system?
The A$1.25 billion health funding boost isn’t based on any coherent policy direction. It’s designed to shore up support in marginal electorates.
The end of effective antibiotics will be frightening. Life expectancy will fall dramatically and people of all ages will die from illnesses that we are used to treating with $10 worth of pills.
Australians are waiting too long for elective surgery, dental care and treatment for mental health. It’s no wonder health is a vote-changer.
Top contributors
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Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne
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Program Director, Health and Aged Care, Grattan Institute
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Professor of Health Economics and Director, Centre for Health Economics, Monash Business School, Monash University
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Professor of Health Economics, The University of Melbourne
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Adjunct Associate Professor, Menzies Centre for Health Policy and Economics, University of Sydney
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Reader in Health Economics, Centre for Health Economics, University of York
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Professor of Health Economics and Director, Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation, University of Technology Sydney
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Health economist, University of Sydney
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Professor and Director, Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie University
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Professor, Public Service Research, UNSW Sydney
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Professor of Health Economics, Flinders University
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Jim Gillespie is a Friend of The Conversation.
Associate Professor in Health Policy, Menzies Centre for Health Policy & Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney
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Senior Policy Adviser, National Rural Health Alliance; Adjunct Lecturer, University of Sydney
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Lecturer, Public Sector Finance, University of Canberra
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Emeritus Professor, Menzies Centre for Health Policy, University of Sydney
