Fron Jackson-Webb, The Conversation and Emil Jeyaratnam, The Conversation
The Abbott government has scrapped its controversial A$7 co-payment plan and replaced it with a A$5 cut to GP rebates for patients over 16 without a concession card, and other rebate changes. The revised…
Tony Abbott and Peter Dutton announce changes to the government’s GP co- payment policy.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
In the government’s latest “scraping away the barnacles” of unpopular and blocked policies, prime minister Tony Abbott and health minister Peter Dutton have announced they’re abandoning the plan to have…
Peter Dutton and Tony Abbott have presented a less controversial Medicare co-payment that should be easier to sell to the public.
AAP/Lukas Coch
The government has stepped back from its A$7 proposed co-payment for visiting the GP but still aims to skin the Medicare cat, putting the onus on doctors to send a $5 price signal to non-concessional patients…
The Dutch like their health system, even though they contribute to it from their own pockets.
Bohbeh/Shuttersock
Australia has a relatively strong health system by international standards, but it needs a makeover. To generate fresh ideas, The Conversation is profiling five international health systems that have important…
In the UK, surgeries are awarded points and additional funding for keeping patients healthy.
emanueletudisco photography/Flickr
Australia has a relatively strong health system by international standards, but it needs a makeover. To generate fresh ideas, The Conversation is profiling five international health systems that have important…
If the Abbott government is clearing the way for a bold reform agenda, the shape of the new direction remains shrouded in mystery.
AAP/Dan Peled
The Coalition entered the 2013 federal election without a health policy. After a year in government, it remains without one. While there has been activity in the health arena, there’s been little coherent…
The AMA proposal would wipe out 97% of the government’s $3.5bn savings.
Newzulu/AAP
Jane Hall, University of Technology Sydney and Kees Van Gool, University of Technology Sydney
Bulk billing without restrictions has been a feature of the Australian health system since the introduction of Medicare in 1984. It is particularly important in general practice, as it means any Australian…
As the queue grows, small increases in waiting times soon turn into dramatic spikes.
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The introduction of a GP co-payment could see average emergency department visits increase by between six minutes and almost three hours, new modelling shows, as more patients opt for free hospital care…
The new Extended Medicare Safety Net will no longer provide patients with protection against high medical costs.
flickr:tanakawho
Buried in the details of the health budget are some changes to Medicare not widely discussed in the last 36 hours. Just as important as the introduction of co-payments for medicines and GP visits are changes…
Charis Palmer, The Conversation and Emil Jeyaratnam, The Conversation
Since publication this infographic has been amended. The original version stated the NDIS was scaled back. There are no planned cuts to the funding of the NDIS.
It doesn’t matter how you count it, Tony Shepherd’s claim that Australians see doctors 11 times a year just doesn’t add up.
AAP/Lukas Coch
All Australians, on average, go to the doctor now 11 times per year. I just don’t think we’re that crook. – Tony Shepherd, Commission of Audit Chairman, press conference on the report’s launch, May 1 The…
We’re unlikely to solve persistent challenges to the health system, such as ensuring equitable access to well-coordinated care, with quick fixes.
AAP Image/Quentin Jones
In the lead-up to the budget, the story of crisis has been hammered home, but there’s more to a country than its structural deficit. So how is Australia doing overall? In this special series, ten writers…
For general patients, the minimum co-payment would be A$15.
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The Commission of Audit’s proposals about GP co-payments are just that, proposals. They are not government policy, nor should they be. Some aspects of the Commission’s recommendations are good. But the…
Progress on GP super clinics is mixed, but it would be a mistake to condemn the program without a closer evaluation.
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The former Labor government’s GP Super Clinics Program has come in for a bashing. The Coalition has derided it as “a total waste of money” and News Corp has dubbed it a “dangerous health care experiment…
It passes the ‘milk bar test’ but once you look behind it, big risks emerge.
AAP Image/Dave Hunt
Like a movie zombie, a policy idea that should have died has arisen from the dead and is likely to feature as a cost-savings measure in next month’s budget. The idea is simple: most GP patients should…
‘Going private’ may speed up your time to treatment, but Medicare shouldn’t pick up the tab.
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The polls this week suggest half of Australians think the Abbott government should reduce the cost of Medicare. My solution? Claw back some of the A$9 billion the government pays to private hospitals…
The cost of operations varies from hospital to hospital but a higher price doesn’t equal better care.
TheTun/Shutterstock
Public hospital spending has been the single fastest-growing area of government spending over the past decade. As governments, policymakers and economists put health spending under the microscope, it’s…
Rather than looking back, we need to decide on the future foundations of Australia’s health system.
Image from shutterstock.com
Treasurer Joe Hockey and health minister Peter Dutton have been in overdrive this past week lowering expectations for the May budget and reminding Australians that its 30-year-old Medicare system is “unsustainable…
Government spending is already targeted toward poorer households.
AAP Image/Dave Hunt
Should the rich pay more for their health care? This question has raised its ugly head again after health minister Peter Dutton announced the Coalition government was considering more user-pays options…
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne