The budget sets the foundation for a new approach to community-based mental health care, eases cost-of-living pressures and aims to keep people out of hospital. Will they work? And what’s missing?
Making the wrong decision about how to access care can impact both your health and finances. So what are your options? And what policy reforms are needed to improve affordable access to health care?
Greater payroll taxes for GP clinics means lower profits. Clinics will seek to make up the shortfall in revenue by other means – and this could include reducing the number of patients they bulk bill.
Neither Ozempic nor Wegovy are listed on the PBS to treat obesity. When Wegovy becomes available, users will need to pay the full price. Or should the government subsidise it?
National Cabinet is meeting today to discuss hospital funding, and the interconnected issues of NDIS reform and GST allocation. But how are hospitals actually funded? And what’s GST got to do with it?
Eating too much salt is bad for our health. Governments and food manufacturers have a big role to play in reducing the salt content of Australians’ diets.
Yes, savings from increased participation in private insurance outweigh the costs the government incurs by subsidising private health insurance rebates. But rebates can be better targeted.
A new review of Australian health care workers’ scope of practice should focus on expanding pharmacists prescribing for stable conditions and long-term medications, under the direction of a GP.
Governments spend billions of dollars every year to encourage us to take up private cover. But our research shows this does little to reduce pressure on the public system.
A social insurance model would use compulsory contributions from worker salaries to cover the cost of aged care services. But it’s not a silver bullet to fix our aged-care funding crisis.
A gap between rich and the poor in cancer deaths for middle-aged people is growing. Deaths from cancer have fallen over time, but less so in our poorest regions where there is less health care access.
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne