Writer
Stephen Duckett
<em>Stephen Duckett, an economist, is an Honorary Enterprise Professor in General Practice and in Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne, Chair of the Board of Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network, and a member of the Strengthening Medicare task force.</em>
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Your Medicare card: the Whitlam government’s contemporary legacy
On December 2 we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the election of the Whitlam government. Health reform was one of that government’s signature achievements. It appears that the stars are now aligning to build on Whitlam’s remarkable legacy and create a new Medicare fit for purpose in the 21st century. Continue reading »
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Will 2022 be the year primary health care takes a step up?
One thing primary care has a lot of is reports about reform. But despite a significant investment in reviews, consultations, and paper over the last five years, not a single cent has been invested in transforming these words on paper into policies which benefit patients and practitioners. Even though the previous government’s ten-year primary care Continue reading »
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What I would do if I were the Minister for Health and Ageing in the next government
A new minister in any portfolio has two tasks: fix the past and fix the future. Continue reading »
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Even in a time of huge budget deficits, government must pursue policy reform
Elections are times for political parties to articulate their policy vision. And for the 2022 federal election, held in the third year of a global pandemic, a program of bold and well-designed policies is more important than ever. Continue reading »
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How to learn from our Covid history (no, not with a royal commission)
What we have learnt from decades of experience about analysing what to do when things go wrong in healthcare should be applied to public health too. Continue reading »
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Act now to overcome the Commonwealth litany of failure on COVID
The Commonwealth has learned nothing from this litany of previous mistakes and continues to ignore lessons learnt from overseas. Continue reading »
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NSW’s reopening plan is risky, and signals an end to a national approach
By abandoning the national plan, NSW’s gamble to go it alone on easing restrictions for fully vaccinated people further fractures federalism… NSW initially locked down too little and too late. Continue reading »
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Stakeholder voices in health policy
Formulation of COVID policy, as with other aspects of health policy, has involved stakeholders voicing their opinions about what’s in Australia’s best interest. Or at least, that is how their lobbying is framed. Continue reading »
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Opening with 70% of adults vaccinated, the Doherty report predicts 1.5K deaths in 6 months. We need a revised plan
One consequence of the escalating COVID outbreak in New South Wales has been increased political tension around the “national plan” for COVID reopening. Continue reading »
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When should mandatory vaccination be on the agenda?
Back in August 2020, when announcing that Australia had negotiated a deal to procure supplies of coronavirus vaccines, the Prime Minister was quizzed by Melbourne radio commentator Neil Mitchell about whether vaccination should be compulsory. The PM hedged his bets – he would ‘expect it to be as mandatory as you can possibly make [it]’. Continue reading »
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Financial penalties for avoidable hospitalisations.
The 2020-25 Commonwealth-state hospital funding agreement requires the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority to consider penalties for excessive rates of potentially preventable hospitalisations. The new penalty would sit alongside existing penalties on states with higher-than-expected rates of ‘adverse events’ in hospitals. Continue reading »
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Where next for private healthcare?
The future of private health in Australia – both private hospitals and private health insurance – is under challenge. The proportion of the population with insurance has declined over the past decade. The insured population is getting older, which is putting upward pressure on insurance premiums, which leads to more people dropping out, especially younger people, Continue reading »
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Prosthesis pricing is a dead parrot
Hidden in the 2021-22 Budget papers was an announcement that the government had squibbed an opportunity to reduce private health insurance premiums by ending a protection racket involving private device manufacturers and importers, and private hospitals. Continue reading »
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What do we get for the millions spent on COVID consultancies?
Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout is not just a shambles, it’s an expensive shambles. The program is so bad that government has given up on setting meaningful targets and has now redefined target setting to when an activity starts, rather than when it finishes. Continue reading »
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The critics are wrong: Australia needs a universal aged care system
The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety has envisioned a new aged care system that would ‘deliver an entitlement to high-quality care and support for older people, and ensure that they receive it’. It’s a call for sweeping change. Continue reading »
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Penny wise, pound foolish: the federal government must step up on hotel quarantine
Our biggest weakness in protecting the community from Covid-19 remains a hotel quarantine system that demonstrably is not fit for purpose. Here’s how to fix our quarantine system once and for all. Continue reading »
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No one else in the world has tamed a second wave this large like Daniel Andrews (The Conversation Oct 26, 2020)
If the past few months have been like a long-haul flight, Victorians are now standing in the aisles waiting for the cabin door to open, a little groggy and disoriented but relieved. They have every right to be. No other place in the world has tamed a second wave this large. Few have even come Continue reading »
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Residential aged care funding rules are unfair and inefficient
The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety has highlighted the tragic weakness of residential aged care throughout Australia. Hundreds of older Australians have died prematurely during the COVID pandemic. For their sake, and ours, this tragedy must prove to be the wake-up call that prompts a major shakeup of the industry. Continue reading »
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Victoria should stay the course
Victoria is now facing a difficult choice: to continue stringent lockdowns in the hope of getting COVID-19 cases down to zero, or accepting the lesser goal of opening up once cases are in single digits. Continue reading »
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Australia’s COVID-19 response Part 2: The four successes and four failures
Australia’s response to coronavirus to date has been among the most successful in the world. After an exponential increase that peaked at more than 400 cases a day in late March, daily cases declined to about 20 a month later, with some states recording several successive days or weeks with no new cases. At the Continue reading »
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Australia’s COVID-19 response Part 1 of 2: the story so far
Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been remarkably successful. After an exponential increase that peaked at more than 400 cases a day in late March, daily cases declined to almost zero a month later. Continue reading »
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PETER BROOKS, STEPHEN DUCKETT and BRIAN OLDENBURG. Telehealth and digital health navigators – a bright future.
Telehealth is not new in Australia but Covid -19 and the new Medicare item numbers have stimulated its rapid adoption across the country. It is clear patients like it. They do not need to expose themselves to potentially dangerous environments such as hospitals and clinics. It saves them time whether in rural or urban environments Continue reading »
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IAN HICKIE and STEPHEN DUCKETT. Mobilise private resources to cope with the COVID-19 mental health wave
The public-private divide in Australia’s health system disappeared early in the Coronavirus pandemic when all states signed contracts with private hospitals to ensure private beds were available to meet the anticipated tsunami of hospital demand. The same ‘can do’ approach is now urgently required to respond to the second COVID-19 curve, namely the predicted increase Continue reading »
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STEPHEN DUCKETT supports Pearls and Irritations.
I am both a daily reader of, and a contributor to John Menadue’s Pearls & Irritations. Continue reading »
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ADAM ELSHAUG & STEPHEN DUCKETT. Hospitals have stopped unnecessary elective surgeries – and shouldn’t restart them after the pandemic (The Conversation 16.4.20)
Part of Australia’s response to the coronavirus pandemic was a severe reduction in elective surgery, and so private hospitals have stood almost empty for a month now. Continue reading »
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STEPHEN DUCKETT, ANIKA STOBART, WILLMACKEY.- If coronavirus cases don’t grow any faster, our health system will probably cope (The Conversations 1.4.2020)
The growth in COVID-19 cases in Australia appears to have slowed across all states, through a combination of tighter border control and spatial distancing. Continue reading »
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STEPHEN DUCKETT. Time to kill the Private Health Insurance zombies
Two zombie policies stalk the Private Health Insurance (PHI) policy world: A ‘Hospital Benefits Schedule’ and ‘Medicare Select’. Here’s why both should have been put to rest long ago. Continue reading »
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STEPHEN DUCKETT. Private health insurance needs a rethink
Australians are dissatisfied with private health insurance. Premiums are rising and consumers are dropping their cover, especially younger people, who are less likely to need health services. Those who are left are more likely to use services, driving insurance costs up further. Government subsidies for private health insurance and private medical care – currently running Continue reading »
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STEPHEN DUCKETT. Morrison’s health handout is bad policy (but might be good politics) (The Conversation).
The A$1.25 billion Community Health and Hospitals Program Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced this week should be awarded a big policy fail. Continue reading »
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STEPHEN DUCKETT. Activity-based funding and prevention: a message for state governments (Croakey)
JENNIFER DOGGETT. Keeping people well and out of hospital should be a primary focus of our health system. Yet the evidence is that we could do much better in preventing and managing problems in the community, before they require hospital treatment. In the post below, Professor Stephen Duckett, Health Program Director at the Grattan Institute, provides Continue reading »
