Writer
Lesley Russell
Dr Lesley Russell is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Menzies Centre for Health Policy and a non-resident Fellow at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.
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LESLEY RUSSELL. How knee replacement surgery highlights issues of access, affordability and best practice in Australia’s two-tiered healthcare system – Part 1
PART 1 – Access and affordability As the population ages, total knee replacement surgery is becoming commonplace. It is one of the most expensive surgical procedures. Most replacements are performed as elective surgery in private hospitals. Those patients who must rely on the public system are waiting longer than ever. Continue reading »
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Private Health Insurance: focus on premiums ignores the cost of using it
Last week’s announcement from the Turnbull Government purported to be about making private health insurance “simpler and more affordable” but in fact delivered more for health insurance funds’ bottom lines than for Australians’ budgets and highlighted the contorted, confused and controversial logic that underpins the government’s push requiring taxpayers to contribute to the financing of Continue reading »
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LESLEY RUSSELL. Private Health Insurance – a low-value proposition?
Private health insurance has been allowed to undermine the universality Australian healthcare to the extent that international experts now downgrade the Australian system in comparison to those of similar countries because it is two-tiered. Growing public concerns about increasing premiums, unexpected out-of-pocket costs and inequalities have led to a focus on whether health insurance provides Continue reading »
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LESLEY RUSSELL. The impact of private health insurance on equity and access in specialist healthcare
Most specialists charge fairly and reasonably, but there is clearly a need to name and shame those who are over-charging and over-servicing to ensure a level playing field for the good guys – and to protect, respect and care for their patients. Continue reading »
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It is disingenuous of the Coalition to claim it has no intention of privatising Medicare.
The election campaign battle over Medicare should come as no surprise. It echoes disputes during previous campaigns and have their origins in ideological divides that date back to well before Medicare was founded and have persisted through the subsequent political disputes. Labor sees the health of Australians as a matter of sufficient national importance that Continue reading »
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Lesley Russell Too high: the impact of specialists’ fees on patients’ health
In today’s health care debates around the centrality of primary care, moving towards patient-centred medical homes, improving care coordination for people with chronic illnesses and whether private health insurance provides value for money, there is one element that is almost always missing – the role and the costs of specialist services. In 2014 over 28 Continue reading »
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Lesley Russell. The debate we’re yet to have about private health insurance.
The six previous papers in this series highlight the poorly defined role private health insurance plays in the funding and delivery of Australian health care, and how the Abbott government might allow this role to expand. But major changes to Australia’s iconic Medicare system should not happen by stealth. They require full analysis and debate Continue reading »
