Articles

Health policy reform is difficult. There are an abundance of powerful stakeholders whose number one priority is definitely not optimum health care for all Australians. But most Australians do share the view that our health care system (which isn’t really a system) needs improving. There are two broad aspects to optimising health. The first is equitable timely access to high quality care. The second is addressing all those factors outside the health system which affect health. These are the social determinants of health and of productivity. Healthy people are more productive. The key social determinant is income inequality, both absolute and relative. Read more

The Opposition Leader has announced the biggest investment in Medicare for a generation, $2.3 billion to be spent eliminating the co-payments faced by those with cancer who see specialists, need diagnostic imaging, and radiotherapy. It is also guaranteeing all new drugs approved by the Pharmaceutical Advisory Committee (PBAC) will be listed for subsidy. The latter means prescription costs will be a maximum of about $6 or $40 a month for pensioners and health care card holders or non card holders respectively.

Cancer is scary. It is debilitating. It is life changing. It is often fatal. Furthermore, as Mr Shorten correctly pointed out “cancer makes you sick and all too often makes you poor”. Labor is to be commended for addressing this challenging issue. Read more

One of my patients has epilepsy. She sees a neurologist for that and he charges $200 out of pocket per visit. He has controlled her epilepsy very well. She is on a disability support pension. She believes she will get better care seeing him privately despite the fact that he also works in the public system.

Out of pocket (OOP) costs have been in the news particularly since the ABC’s 4 Corners program exposed huge costs impacting significant financial hardship on many sick Australians. As a result of a Ministerial Committee report the Health Minister has proposed tackling the issue with a website of specialist charges and an education campaign for patients. The Committee consisted of ten health care provider representatives and one consumer representative. My suggestion to the Minister that more consumer representatives might be appropriate resulted in an intensely angry response. Read more

ALP health spokesperson Catherine King addressed the National Press Club this week to expound Labor’s vision of health care changes if it wins office. Perhaps the highlight of the address was a restatement of Labor’s vision

‘of a truly universal health care system in which every Australian has affordable access to the high-quality health care they need whenever they need it.’

But will such a vision be wholeheartedly pursued under a Labor Government? Read more

In 2017 I referred a patient for relatively simple orthopaedic surgery on her wrist to enable her to get back to working in a café.  She had been advised that she was a category 3 patient and should be operated on within 365 days. During this period she couldn’t do her usual part-time work which she could juggle around child care commitments. Furthermore, Centrelink required her to apply for jobs she couldn’t do. It took 6 months to even get on the waiting list. She finally had the surgery 15 months after I referred her. Read more

As a financially comfortable part time medical specialist, I will be in the group receiving the highest tax cut immediately, whilst my daughters working full time at much lower income will receive about one third of that. It’s of even more concern, that in seven years’ time, the major beneficiaries of the Government plan will be those on incomes like that of politicians, receiving eight times more in reduced tax compared to low income earners. Read more

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The inequities in the status of oral health in Australia are appalling because of a lack of political will and a resistance to recognising that all Australians deserve to receive adequate dental care. This resistance is rooted in the elitism of those in power, the belief that if one can’t earn an adequate income, then second rate access to dental care is one’s lot.

The money to improve access is available, whether from the inequitable inefficient $12 billion private health insurance (PHI) subsidy and associated tax losses, the putative savings of $100 billion over 10 years which the Treasurer says would be the cost of Labor tax initiatives, or general revenue used to invest in the future as we are doing with our $50 billion submarine contract. Read more