Most of us would agree that cancer drugs should be listed on the PBS, no matter how dear. But our health system can’t afford all of them. How then are decisions about which drugs to subsidise made?
Older people are more likely to drop out of the workforce for good when they’re sick than young people.
Bacho/Shutterstock
Economic modelling shows that policies to reduce chronic diseases can have large economic benefits –A$4.5 billion a year for diabetes alone – by reducing health costs and boosting the workforce.
Ineffective care exposes patients to complications and side-effects and waste precious health care resources.
Jim Young/Reuters
State and territory leaders will meet in Sydney today to nut out solutions to health and education funding gaps. But what exactly is the problem they’re hoping to address?
Public hospital funding is in a critical condition.
Anna Jurkovska/Shutterstock
Any health reform proposals should start by addressing public hospitals and chronic care. But successful change in these areas requires getting the state-Commonwealth funding and incentives right.
Women make up 90% of the world’s nurses.
EPA/Ahmed Jallanzo
Data analysed from 32 countries shows women make a huge economic contribution that often goes unrecognised (and unpaid).
Billions were expected to be saved from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme – but surprisingly the budget only outlines $252 million in savings.
Lukas Coch/AAP
The big surprise about this year’s health budget was what wasn’t there – billions of dollars in expected savings from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
In the final instalment of our series, Lesley Russell asks whether Australians need private health insurance, and what a two-tiered systems means for quality, access and equity.
Medicare and private health insurance partly overlap for hospital entitlements. But nobody can purchase full coverage for health-care costs.
Tyler Olson/Shutterstock
Private insurance, by its very nature, suppresses price signals and encourages over-servicing and cost escalation.
The relationship between private health insurance and Medicare has been a problem since the Whitlam government introduced universal health care.
Hadrian/Shutterstock
Some people balk at the cost of private insurance – especially the relatively young and healthy – because they don’t see the value of it when they are already covered under Medicare.
The half of Australians who have private health insurance will be face higher bills from Wednesday, as insurance premiums increase by an industry average of 6.18%.
Dental care is the most-used private health insurance ancillary service.
Peter Kyikos/AAP
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.
Tyler Olson/Shutterstock
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
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne