For someone who is experiencing gambling harm, either due to their own gambling or someone else’s gambling, finding a quality service is often difficult. (more…)
Category: Health
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Will the Albanese Government revive the values that underpinned Medicare?
Or will it fiddle around the edges like the Rudd/Gillard Governments? (more…)
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Cuts to preventive health are a false economy: they lead to sicker people and sicker budgets
The nation is bracing for austere budgets. Grim foreshadowing has prepared us for a challenging federal budget. The Victorian Premier has warned of “very difficult measures” in his state’s budget, and NSW has delayed its budget while the new cabinet grapples with “tough choices”. (more…)
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Age equality: one of the great human rights issues of our time
In 2006, someone supposedly speaking for Generation Y wrote a book addressed to baby Boomers called “Please Just F* Off: It’s Our Turn Now.” The person who wrote that book in 2006 at the age of 25 is now 42. One day we will all be cast as the villains. It’s just a matter of time. (more…)
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Should NSW proceed with a Drug Summit?
A very comprehensive review of drug policy in NSW completed in 2020 was largely ignored for two and a half years. The Commissioner of the Inquiry understandably believes further consideration is redundant. The newly elected NSW government intends to keep a commitment made before the election to conduct a Drug Summit. They are right to do so and for several reasons. (more…)
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Like justice, medical specialist care delayed is care denied
The statistics released by ABC journalist, Stephanie Dalzell on April 20, define a national disgrace and expose a massive hole in the once intact Medicare safety net. (more…)
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Why dental care was excluded from Medicare and why it should now be included (an edited repost)
In 1974, the Whitlam Government decided to exclude dental care from Medicare for two reasons. The first was cost. The second was political. Whitlam felt that combatting the doctors would be hard enough without having to combat dentists as well. Forty-six years later, with Australia much richer and the proven success of Medicare, it is now time for dental care to be progressively included in Medicare. (more…)
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Restricting Medicare access to GPs that bulk bill all patients
In a recent article in The Conversation, Professors Stephen Duckett and Fiona McDonald and Ms Emma Campbell suggest “restrict[ing] Medicare access to GPs who agree to bulk bill all patients, while allowing those who don’t bulk bill to rely solely on out-of-pocket payments”. While there is much to commend this proposal, it is not without risks that would need to be carefully managed. (more…)
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Matching markets
‘The market’ and ‘life-changing interventions’: two phrases that aren’t normally seen in the same sentence. (more…)
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It’s 2050. How is our health system holding up?
Introduction by Croakey: So much of our day-to-day attention is focused on the problems facing healthcare systems now. Lifting our gaze to envision the likely future challenges – say in 2050 – can help set a course forward. (more…)
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Strength, will and knowledge: critical components for aged care nursing
Staffing and skill mix is at a crisis point in private aged care, and it must be fixed. We must show solidarity for the needs of our ageing population, because how we treat our elderly says everything about our values as a nation.
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What if Medicare was restricted to GPs who bulk billed? This kind of reform is possible
Australia’s health system is under significant pressure. The Labor government has inherited a system with declining bulk-billing rates for GP visits. These fell from almost 90 per cent of all GP attendances bulk billed in December 2021 to just over 80 per cent a year later. (more…)
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Unpacking the Philip Medicare Review
Following “revelations” of $8 billion Medicare “rorts” in the Nine newspapers last spring, Health Minister Mark Butler commissioned Dr Pradeep Philip to conduct a review of Medicare integrity and compliance. His report has now been publicly released, and subject to vastly different readings. (more…)
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The absurdities of AUKUS
On 14 March, when the AUKUS nuclear powered-submarine details were revealed, I spent most of the day in the Emergency Department of a hospital in Brisbane, with a family member needing urgent medical care. (more…)
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New obesity treatments offer hope, but can we afford them?
Worldwide obesity has tripled since 1975. WHO surveys tell us that more than 2 billion adults, 18 years and older are overweight and of these nearly 800 million are actually obese. 39 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in a 2020 survey and it is estimated that 400 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 are overweight or obese. At least 6 million people die each year as a direct result of their obesity rather than its complications. (more…)
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Environment: Trees good. Plastics bad. Why don’t governments turn it around?
Trees are good for the climate and human health. Plastics are bad for the environment and bird health. Where are the good governments when you need them?
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China: decoupling from the West and winning the long game
With the re-opening of China and with the ending of Covid restrictions, a new confidence seems to be surging through the country. While the next two years are seen to be a particularly dangerous time, with the real prospect of armed conflict with the US, beyond that it is felt that China’s time will have come. Australians are now largely denied this view since the timorous Australian media is no longer present in China. (more…)
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“Long tail” of COVID-19 impacts disadvantaged Australians’ education most
COVID-19 disproportionately impacts disadvantaged and vulnerable Australians. What does that mean for their engagement in post-secondary vocational education and training (VET)? (more…)
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A desperate race to avoid locking in the pathway to human extinction
We are in a desperate race to avoid locking in a pathway to human extinction. This requires brutal honesty on the threats we face. Climate change, not China, Russia or the US, is the greatest threat the world faces; it will only be overcome with unprecedented global co-operation.
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Restoring societal values that make a better future for all
Can we really believe that the power structurers of human societies in 2023 are setting policies and programs that are doing the best for our future? (more…)
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Politics, not science, fuelling debate about the origin of COVID-19
Last week 4.8 million people contracted Covid-19 and 39,000 died as a result. The pandemic rages on around the world with, globally, cumulative cases of 675,565,574 and 6,873,798 deaths documented. (more…)
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A time for leadership: winning the pandemic war first
In the early 1940s ‘phony war’, before Pearl Harbour in December 1941, many Australians were not interested in the ongoing European war, even given our troops in Greece and North Africa. (more…)
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The silicosis epidemic – a symptom of wider regulatory failure
The epidemic of silicosis amongst tradespeople working with manufactured stone was predictable, preventable, and an illustration of a broken OHS system across NSW and the rest of Australia. (more…)
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Do China’s COVID-19 numbers add up?
Now that China is opening up, it’s a good time to reflect on their pandemic response. (more…)
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Ohio Disaster – will those responsible be arrested?
According to Newsweek, a toxic chemical cloud has reached a radius of 100-miles around East Palestine, the scene of a devastating train crash and chemical burn-off. If true, the people of Cleveland, the State capital 90-miles away, are now at risk of exposure. (more…)
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‘Defence’ as an Australian paradox: explaining veteran suicides
It is absolutely essential that society inquiries into the fate of Australia’s war veterans. There are many reasons for our failure to rehabilitate veterans successfully, but unless we confront the nature of military activity, such investigations will remain superficial. (more…)
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The difficulties of health reform
When he was Treasurer Paul Keating complained that the resident galah in every pet shop across Australia was talking about microeconomic reform. Over the last few months the galahs have learned a new script: health reform. (more…)
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Neurofeedback works for trauma – let’s use it!!!
Everyone who has suffered abuse as a child deserves the opportunity to live free of its detrimental effects. (more…)
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Asking the question: making the first move in Voluntary Assisted Dying
On the 28th November 2023 the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2022 (NSW) (the NSW VAD Act) will come into force. (more…)
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An insurance mindset is vital for the future of the welfare state
“Lifters” and “leaners”; “makers” vs “takers”; “strivers” and the “skivers”. The language may be different but the pejorative sentiment around the welfare state is similar, be it in Australia, the United States or the United Kingdom. (more…)