Health
3 December 2019
Saving private health 2: Making private health insurance viable
The only way that private hospital insurance can survive as Australia’s population ages is to make insurance cheaper for younger, healthier people.
25 November 2019
Saving private health 1: reining in hospital costs and specialist bills
Private health insurance premiums could be cut by up to 10 per cent if private hospitals were made more efficient. And patients would save a further $350 million a year if greedy doctors stopped charging more than twice the Medicare Benefits Schedule fee.
15 July 2019
The history and purposes of private health insurance
The private health insurance industry fears it is in a death spiral, and politicians need to rethink whether or to what extent taxpayers should continue to subsidise the industry.
16 April 2019
Commonwealth Orange Book 2019: Policy priorities for the federal government
The winner of the 2019 federal election should defy the national mood of reform fatigue and stare down vested interests to pursue a targeted agenda to improve the lives of Australians. The Orange Book charts the policy priorities.
17 March 2019
Filling the gap: A universal dental care scheme for Australia
Australia should introduce a Medicare-style universal insurance scheme for dental care, so all Australians can go to the dentist when they need to. It would cost $5.6 billion a year and should be phased in over 10 years.
28 October 2018
State Orange Book 2018: Policy priorities for states and territories
State and territory governments can do more to improve the lives of Australians. In many cases, states are different because their governments adopted better policies. Every state should learn from the others and do better.
19 August 2018
Safer care saves money: How to improve patient care and save public money at the same time
Australia could save $1.5 billion a year on health spending by improving the safety of patient care. Safer hospital care doesn’t just reduce harm to patients, it saves money for taxpayers and frees up beds so other patients can be treated.
29 July 2018
Mapping primary care in Australia
Primary care policy needs an overhaul to ensure all Australians, especially the poor and the elderly, get the best possible health care. Many poorer Australians can’t afford to go to a GP when they need to or a dentist when they should, and people in rural and remote areas find it too hard to get to a pharmacist or medical specialist.
4 February 2018
All complications should count: Using our data to make hospitals safer
One in nine patients who go into hospital suffers a complication, and the risk varies dramatically depending on the hospital. An extra 250,000 patients would leave hospital complication-free each year if all hospitals lifted their performance to match the best 10 per cent of hospitals.
7 November 2017
Strengthening safety statistics: How to make hospital safety data more useful
Australia needs to reform the way we collect and use information about patient safety, to reduce the risk of more tragedies in our hospitals. The system is awash with data, but the information is poorly collated, not shared with patients, and often not given to doctors.