Health
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Private health insurance is a con job
You won’t believe it, but my birthday was on Tuesday and I got a present from the federal government. I also got a card from my state member, sending his “very best wishes” for reaching such an “important milestone” in my life. Continue reading »
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The curse of political mediocrity; the informed, bold, courageous policies that Australia needs in health are nowhere to be seen (Part 1 of 3).
This “fair go mate” country of ours is wealthy but in reality ever less egalitarian. Increasing Inequity is palpable and most notable in the problems we have with housing, education and health. Health outcomes for Individuals are increasingly dependent on personal financial wellbeing. Australians are spending about 30 billion dollars a year to supplement the Continue reading »
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RAY MOYNIHAN. Beware the hype on genomics and precision medicine.
Last week’s landmark report on personalised medicine plays down potential for harm and oversells uncertain benefits. Continue reading »
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STEPHEN DUCKETT, CHRISTINE JORM AND GREG MORAN. Hospitals are risky places – but some are better than others
One in every nine patients who go into hospital in Australia suffers a complication: when something preventable goes wrong with their care. They might develop an infection from a hygiene breach, for instance, or be given the wrong dose or type of drug. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Has Labor lost its nerve on private health insurance?
In his Press Club address last week Bill Shorten made some unflattering remarks about private health insurance. But every indication is that an incoming Labor government will maintain, or perhaps even strengthen, support for private health insurance. An opportunity to reform health care by phasing out private health insurance and by redirecting its $10 billion Continue reading »
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ROBERT WILLIAMSON. New medicine will transform Australia’s health system.
Medicine is changing. In Australia a baby born today will live, on average, for 90 years or more. The common infectious killer-diseases have been eliminated. The treatment of cancer is becoming a success story, far different from the horror with which cancer was viewed by my parents and their generation in the 1950s. Heart disease Continue reading »
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PETER BROOKS. Tasmanian Labor takes on the gambling industry
The Tasmanian election on March 3rd will provide a watershed moment in public health not just in Tasmania but for Australia as well. Continue reading »
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EMMA ALBERICI. Sugar tax and the power of big business: How influence trumps evidence in politics
Australia markets itself as a liberal democracy committed to the principles of equality and fairness. But in practice, those with clout or money or both can influence public policy in a way other members of the public cannot. Continue reading »
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STEPHEN LEEDER. Forget the Dog: make 2018 the Year of the Sceptic.
Much medical research is incomplete or wrong. The participation of drug companies in sponsored research and continuing education for doctors whereby the results of research are communicated to them demands healthy scepticism. Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. Cricket – grog and junk food!
Over the holidays I have very much enjoyed watching on television Australia winning the Ashes series, although they seem to be exhausted after the celebrations and are performing poorly in the ODI series. The visual TV coverage on Channel 9 is outstanding. The camera crews do a great job. I enhance my enjoyment by minimising Continue reading »
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LEANNE WELLS. More Government tax incentives for health insurance?
While in the real world consumers struggle to meet private health care costs, health funds are hoping for yet more government help. Continue reading »
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BERNARD KEANE. If milk prices went up like private health insurance …
The forthcoming round of private health insurance (PHI) premium increases — touted by the government as the lowest in a decade — will mean premiums have risen nearly 80% since 2008, far ahead of inflation and a good demonstration of why PHI companies have racked up big profit increases in recent years. Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. A Commonwealth Hospital Benefit to replace the $11b private health insurance subsidy.- A REPOST from October 18 2117
The wasteful and unfair $ 11b per annum cost to taxpayers of the subsidy to Private Health Insurance should be abolished and the savings used in two possible ways – part funding a Medicare dental scheme and/or part funding private hospital care through a Hospital Benefit Scheme. In that Hospital Benefit Scheme, individuals could choose Continue reading »
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John Menadue. The Coalition, Barnaby Joyce rural poverty and rural health. (Repost from 16 January 2016)
It is not surprising that independents are making headway in country electorates. But what is the ALP doing? Continue reading »
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PETER BROOKS. Movement on out of pocket expenses.
Over the last few years much as been written on the issue of out of pocket (OOPs) medical expenses in Australia including a number of contributions in this newsletter. There has been a Senate enquiry and much coverage in the media. The issue of out of pocket expenses is not new – the Grattan Institute Continue reading »
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IAN WEBSTER. Policy failures in mental health
Mental health problems arising out of modern despair have to be tackled with insights gained from the day-to-day lives of society’s outcasts and the social sciences. Matthew Fisher, (Australia’s policy failure on mental health, Pearls and Irritations, 14 December 2017) argues that Australian mental health policies have failed: “(We) are subject to a deafening silence Continue reading »
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A paraplegic woman and her elderly carer.
A well-known and respected doctor has written to me about caring for his loved wife. He outlines a compelling and human story. With his permission I share with readers his account of the burdens and cost of caring. John Menadue. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Private health insurers frighten the ALP-A REPOST from June 2 2017
There was a recent flurry of media excitement about a supposed “secret hospital funding plan”, which turned out to be no more than an option under consideration by a think-tank. But the real (and overlooked) issue in health funding is a high and growing hidden subsidy to private health insurance, where, contrary to traditional political Continue reading »
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LESLEY RUSSELL. Who cares for the carers?
Governments have yet to create a coherent strategy to help the almost three million Australians providing informal care. Continue reading »
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JOHN DWYER. The devastating effects of Trumpism on science and medicine.
While the “Fire and the Fury” surrounding the chaos at the White House dominates media reporting on the Trump presidency, the power of the office is being utilised to implement a myriad of bad decisions that will have very long-lasting effects. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the plans Trump has to slash funding Continue reading »
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MARK HARRIS. Sugar tax to tackle obesity: an update.
In 2016 I wrote about the call for a sugar tax, especially on sugar sweetened drinks, to address Australia’s obesity problem. What has happened since then? Continue reading »
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STEPHEN LEEDER. Alcohol and sport. A REPOST
Queensland’s victory over NSW in the 1 June game lin 2016 was reported as the highest rating State of Origin match ever and ‘the top TV event of 2016.’ Both teams carried alcohol advertising on their clothing into the match. The association of alcohol with sport is deep, complex and profitable. Sport provides a lucrative Continue reading »
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MICHAEL LAMBERT. Overweight and Obesity Part 2: The indigenous Australians Impact
Part 1 of this two-part post provided a global and broad Australian perspective on the pandemic of overweight and obesity. This part sets out the position for indigenous Australians and argues that this pandemic is a significant part of the health gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians and that the way forward must involve interventions Continue reading »
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STEPHEN LEEDER: A little bit of sugar may (or may not) make the weight go down.
The statistics do not support the view that there are big differences in sugar consumption between the fat and the thin. We need to define our enemy clearly in the battle against obesity. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL LAMBERT. Overweight and Obesity Part 1: A Global and Australian Perspective
In part 1 of this two-part post Michael Lambert sets out the broad position on overweight and obesity as both a global development and the Australian situation, the costs involved and the case for national action . The second part of this post will focus on the position with indigenous Australians, its contribution to the Continue reading »
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STEPHEN LEEDER. Social causes of illness are not immutable: they are amenable to change.
Modifying our own behaviour in health-promoting directions is sensible but for sustainable, nation-wide change we need to take action of a different kind. Continue reading »
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HELEN CLARK. The health of future generations is at risk.
The health of future generations is being mortgaged as a result of environmental degradation that threatens to reverse the health gains achieved over the past century, according to Dr Helen Clark, a global health advocate. Clark, formerly Administrator of the UN Development Programme and Prime Minister of New Zealand, told the recent launch of the Continue reading »
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MICK PALMER. Australia’s Illicit Drugs Policy – There Really is a better Way A REPOST
It happens time and time again. We are told breathlessly by the media with photos of bags of seized drugs flanked by Border Protection officials and police officers about how successful we are in containing the drug problem.. But is it ‘success’ when despite the new records in drug seizures the drug problem in the Continue reading »
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AMANDA BIGGS. Whither the private health insurance rebate?
The private health insurance rebate is an important element in maintaining the attractiveness of private health insurance membership. The government rebate subsidises the cost of private health insurance premiums (hospital, general, and ambulance policies). It is usually applied in the form of an upfront discount to the consumer on the price of the premium, although Continue reading »
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HUGH MACKAY. Another kind of deficit
Here’s a quick Christmas quiz. (Warning: it’s not a very merry quiz.) Continue reading »