Medibank was radical, Medicare is its reincarnation

August 11, 2025

John Deeble is one of my heroes. He and Whitlam did a radical thing in introducing Medibank. So I was disappointed with the use of Medicare throughout this article.

I remember clearly after only a few years of Medibank, Malcolm Fraser’s Government gleefully destroyed it, for ideological reasons and following the wishes of the AMA. They changed it to Medibank Private, just another health insurance company. A good, essential thing was cruelly snatched away. If you couldn’t afford private health insurance, tough. You paid for healthcare, or went without.

It was devastating for many Australians. I remember clearly how my family struggled, even though we got lower cost insurance through dad’s lodge.

It was only with the election of the Hawke ALP Government that universal healthcare was reintroduced, with Deeble advising Hewett. This time the scheme was named Medicare.

Deeble did it twice.

By calling Deeble’s original Medibank, Medicare, you are smoothing over history, and in danger of conflating the two. Those too young to remember will not be able to appreciate the initial struggle, the years of suffering without universal health careand the final victory.

We owe a huge debt to Deeble for Medibank and Medicare.