Many proponents of community health models are less than overjoyed by the way the proposed health reform changes have taken shape, even though some are potentially very valuable, writes Lyn Morgain.
Health reform
Political snippets: Gillard’s broken promise
A classic example of the blame game. The buck passing on public hospital funding is well and truly back. The Tasmanian government this week announced it would cut more than $60 million from its elective surgery budget over the next three years. That means, according to federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon, that the state risks […]
The same old public hospital nonsense
Remember all that federal Labor arty talk about finally fixing the financing of the public hospital system? Well, forget them. The first state to make a mockery of the new system was Tasmania, writes Richard Farmer.
Give me a rebate, public hospitals need private health insurance
If the current rate of growth in hospital admissions in Australia continues, private hospitals can expect to be treating 50% of all hospital patients by 2021. Imagine if the public sector alone had to undertake all this work, writes Michael Roff, CEO of the Australian Private Hospitals Association.
Benefits of health reform will be in decades ahead
The Government’s health reform package is far less than originally conceived, but it will deliver long-term benefits. The real beneficiaries will be the taxpayers of the next three decades.
Health reform: you wouldn’t wish it on a baby
If health reform was a baby, you’d have to say that it’s facing an exceedingly tough start to life.
Essential: Labor edges up, but voters rate Rudd as PM …
Labor has edged ahead in today’s Essential report poll - but Julia Gillard doesn’t compare favourably to her predecessor.
healthcare Health reform: does it go far enough?
The Business Council of Australia have released a report that argues for a more transformative health reform agenda and process than what has been on the table to date, reports Melissa Sweet.
Health reform: where have we been and where are we headed?
Drawing breath after a very busy year, Carol Bennett from the Consumers Health Forum reflects on what has been achieved in health reform in Australia and what lies in store for the future.
What we think of our health system
Last month the Menzies Centre for Health Policy released a survey measuring Australian perceptions of our health system. A number of the same questions were asked in a 2008 survey and contrasting the responses reveals how Australian opinion has changed, writes Possum Comitatus.
Health reform efforts … and the verdict is …
CHF has welcomed the deal between the government and Medicines Australia that will bring savings of $1.9 billion over four years, drive down the prices of some medicines, writes Carol Bennett, chief executive, Consumers Health Forum
What do Australians really think of our health system?
Minister Nicola Roxon was quick to trumpet the findings of a recent survey into perceptions of our health system as evidence of supposed widespread support. However, she neglected to mention concerns many people have regarding aged care, writes Melissa Sweet.
Changing political landscape means changes to health reform
The new Victorian Liberal government, like the old Victorian Labor government, is a major player in Australia’s health reforms, writes Paul Dugdale, director of the ANU Centre for Health Stewardship.
healthcare Beyond hospital bed tallies: how about some innovation?
According to most media coverage, health reform is all about having more hospital beds and more doctors. The debate of course extends a lot further than that, and some answers for Australia could be found in the US health care system, writes Dr Lesley Russell.
What might a Coalition government mean for health reform?
There is a distinct possibility that a huge amount of effort and resources invested in health care reform will end up in the dustbin under a Coalition government. Croakey compiles a list of what we can expect to be ditched.
Your guide to the health/aged care reforms
Melissa Sweet offers a rather brutal summary of health reforms: a lot of money is being spent for most uncertain outcomes, while reforms seem to benefit the pharmaceutical industries more than the public purse.
Health: Will Budget announcements be a circuit breaker?
Mental health and dental health were the clear losers last night. But will the other health announcements be a circuit breaker for the government? Croakey’s Melissa Sweet wraps the commentary.
Health Budget 2010: What the experts say
Croakey wraps reactions to last night’s Budget from Australia’s health experts and community, covering everything from dental policy (or the lack of it), primary health care and alcohol policy and prevention.
Are we going back to the 1960s in mental health?
The Health Department may be able to write a chook raffle policy, but it has few employees with much experience of running health services, and too many decision-making generic career bureaucrats without any clinical background, says psychiatrist Alan Rosen.
Crikey Says: A ‘planned negotiation process’ — so that’s what it was…
So that’s that whole health reform deal was. A “planned negotiation process” that started and ended with posturing by premiers who needed to appear macho to their constituencies.
States stick it up Rudd
All those commitments Kevin Rudd is making to the states to buy their support for health reform will add up to more middle-class welfare. Whoever wins out of this, taxpayers will be the losers.
How voters feel about state governments: it’s not healthy respect
Voters’ attitudes towards their state governments vary considerably, depending on how they handle important issues. But everyone agrees they don’t handle health well.
Do we still need state govts?
It isn’t the GST that should make the premiers fear the “thin end of the wedge”; the entire purpose of their existence is in question.
Remember us? We’re called nurses
Nurses are the people who will be critical to achieving health reform on the ground, since doctors aren’t alone in providing front-line health care, writes mental health nurse Kim Ryan.
