Health policy was an important factor in the election outcome, but one of the most important issues in the health sector – the impact of out-of-pocket costs – was mostly ignored.
There is a strong political and economic case for the government to cut its support for private insurance and to restore Medicare to its original role.
Lukas Coch/AAP
As he struggles with the lessons of the recent past and the challenges of the immediate future, Malcolm Turnbull needs to avoid two dangers. One is being spooked by the conservatives inside and outside…
Three more years for Malcolm Turnbull and the Coalition.
AAP/David Moir
The idea of hitting voters with a powerful message on election day is just the culmination of three trends in Australian campaign communication that have been brewing for decades.
One thing Malcolm Turnbull should do in the short term if he’s forming a new ministry is find a first-rate minister to put into the health portfolio.
David Moir/AAP
Malcolm Turnbull is struggling to produce the right response in the aftermath of his election debacle. On Saturday he did not take on any blame and lashed out at Labor’s “Mediscare” tactic. On Tuesday…
Malcolm Turnbull said he remained ‘quietly confident, reasonably confident’ of forming a majority government.
David Moir/AAP
Malcolm Turnbull has taken ‘absolutely full responsibility’ for his criticised election campaign, and declared the Coalition must rebuild public trust in itself on the issue of Medicare.
Some Coalition’s policies have been seen as a fundamental assault on Medicare principles of bulk billing and universality.
Dan Peled/AAP
Scare campaigns only work if there is some anxiety to build on. Labor’s Medicare campaign plugged into a long history of Coalition ambivalence – or open hostility – towards Medicare.
Medicare wasn’t a major election issue at the start of the campaign.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
Has the Coalition invested an average of $5 billion per year more than Labor into Medicare?
Was Labor’s shadow health minister Catherine King, pictured here with shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus, right about cuts to bulk-billing payments?
Dan Himbrechts/AAP
Labor’s shadow health minister Catherine King, said that the government has “cut bulk-billing payments for pathology and diagnostic imaging to make patients pay more”. Is that right?
Health is always a key factor in deciding which way to vote. So what have the major parties promised in health? And what could these changes mean for consumers?
Bill Shorten’s Medicare message is a powerful one.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
The greater threats to our national public health system lie in the increasing role of consumer co-payments and the power of vested interests that stifle policy innovation in health.
Labor leader Bill Shorten has been campaigning heavily on health issues.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne