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Articles on Health economics

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The current rules seek to ensure most Australians have access to a pharmacy staffed by a highly skilled professional with a pharmacy degree. Shutterstock

Relaxing pharmacy ownership rules could result in more chemist chains and poorer care

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.
Desperate families are increasingly turning to crowdfunding campaigns to raise tens of thousands of dollars for surgery and other medical expenses. From shutterstock.com

It’s perfectly legal for doctors to charge huge amounts for surgery, but should it be allowed?

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.
Labor has promised A$8 billion in new health expenditure, while the Coalition has focused on the difference new pharmaceuticals can make to individual Australians. Shutterstock

What are the major parties promising on health this election?

Labor and the Coalition’s health policies and campaign strategy couldn’t be more different this election.
Both sides of politics have gone hard on health in the first week of the campaign. Dave Hunt/AAP

Election campaign lesson #1: don’t mess with Medicare

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.
For some people, high out-of-pocket costs makes it difficult to see a doctor or fill a prescription. From shutterstock.com

We need more than a website to stop Australians paying exorbitant out-of-pocket health costs

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.
The number of Medicare claims Australians make in a year doubled between 1984 and 2018. By Sopotnick

More visits to the doctor doesn’t mean better care – it’s time for a Medicare shake-up

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.
The funding proposal is no fix for Australia’s health system but it could take some political pressure off the Coalition in the lead up to the 2019 federal election. OnE studio/Shutterstock

Morrison’s health handout is bad policy (but might be good politics)

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.
There already exist some promising new antibiotic therapies, and more are in the pipeline. However, our economic model prevents researchers from moving them out onto the market. (Shutterstock)

Humanity under threat from antibiotic-resistant infections

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.

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