Australia - Means-testing health rebate will help rural Australia

Citation

(2011), "Australia - Means-testing health rebate will help rural Australia", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 24 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2011.06224aab.004

Australia - Means-testing health rebate will help rural Australia

Article Type: News and views From: International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Volume 24, Issue 1

Keywords: Health care, Insurance, Health services, Public health

The Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA) welcomed Health Minister Nicola Roxon’s announcement that she plans to re-introduce legislation to means-test the private health insurance (PHI) rebate and called on the independents in both Houses of Parliament to support this measure.

“Means-testing the PHI rebate will free up resources for health services in areas of need, such as rural and regional Australia, and help ensure our public health system can provide care for our ageing population into the future,” Prue Power, AHHA Executive Director, said.

“AHHA supports a balanced health care system with a strong role for both the public and private health sectors. However, with the ageing of our population and the increasing cost of medical technologies and other treatments, the pressure on the health budget is growing. To ensure that Australians can continue to receive high quality health care in the decades to come, we must be certain that every dollar spent on health delivers maximum value.

“Evidence from a number of health economists has demonstrated that the PHI rebate is an extremely inefficient mechanism for increasing PHI fund membership and for taking pressure off the public hospital system. It is a particularly ineffective means of assisting rural and regional Australians to access health care as there are very few private health services in these areas.

“AHHA will seek meetings with the independent parliamentarians in the near future to present them with this research and to discuss how the funds currently being used to subsidise PHI could be diverted to achieve better health outcomes elsewhere in the system.

“We are also keen to reassure them that means-testing the rebate would not place increased pressure on public hospitals. While public hospitals are under stress and struggling to cope with demand in many areas, this is due to factors such as workforce shortages, ageing infrastructure and an insufficient focus on primary care and preventive health.

“AHHA welcomes the commitment of the Government to reducing the inefficient use of tax payer dollars to support PHI. We look forward to working with the independents to ensure rural and regional Australians receive high quality and affordable health care, wherever possible in their local communities,” Ms Power said.

For more information: www.aushealthcare.com.au