Australia’s private health insurance system is heavily subsidised, increasingly unaffordable and delivers poor value – especially for those on lower incomes.
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Category: Health
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Private health insurance is a painfully bad deal – and a costly one
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Mickey J: an Australian always, quietly, making a big difference
At a time of diminished political leadership, the legacy of Fred Hollows and Michael Johnson shows what practical, principled internationalism can achieve.
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Tuberculosis remains the world’s deadliest infectious disease – Australia’s regional leadership matters
Tuberculosis is preventable and curable, yet remains the world’s deadliest infectious disease. Australia’s regional role is critical to changing that.
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Private health insurance isn’t working – and the numbers show it
Premiums are rising far faster than official increases, coverage is narrowing and hospitals are under strain – Australia’s private health model is failing. (more…)
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The human side of AI in childhood cancer: children as the stress test for “good” technology
Artificial intelligence is transforming cancer care, but paediatric oncology shows why technology must be guided by transparency, ethics and the needs of children and families.
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Why Royal Commissions so often fail to deliver reform
Five years after the Royal Commission on Quality and Safety in Aged Care reported, its legacy offers hard-earned lessons about reform, funding, implementation and the limits of inquiry-led change. (more…)
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Sobriety, friendship and the quiet power of Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous has helped millions of people stop drinking. Drawing on his long friendship with Barry Humphries and the experience of Anthony Hopkins, Ross Fitzgerald reflects on sobriety, friendship and what sustained recovery makes possible. (more…)
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Australia’s sugar shame: why we’re falling behind in the fight for our health
Australia once led the world in confronting tobacco harm. On sugar consumption – a major driver of obesity and chronic disease – more than 100 countries are now ahead of us, and health ministers face a critical test. (more…)
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Female-only swimming saves lives: the overlooked gap in Australia’s drowning prevention
Female-only swimming sessions are not a cultural luxury. They are a proven, evidence-based public safety measure that too many Australian women still cannot access.
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Australia has clear evidence on women’s pain. The policy challenge is to act on it
A landmark Victorian inquiry has exposed deep, system-wide failures in how women’s pain is treated. The policy response now requires national leadership.
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Britain has banned junk food advertising to kids. There are big lessons for Australia
Britain has moved to limit junk food marketing to children, despite loopholes and lobbying. Australia still hasn’t acted.
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Best of 2025 – Australia faces a looming crisis of older women retiring in poverty. Here’s what we can do
Australia faces a serious challenge. Despite important progress on gender equality over recent decades, a looming crisis now threatens the economic security of older women. Without urgent and bold action, we risk consigning further generations of women to poverty in retirement. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – States increase pressure on Commonwealth to address hospital cost increases
Hark back to December 2023. National Cabinet endorsed a historic agreement setting the parameters for future Commonwealth-state sharing of public hospital costs over the next decade. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – Government is planning hardship for older Australians living at home
Aged care has again been in the media for all the wrong reasons. Two failures are attracting particular attention. (more…)
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A beginners guide to Australian aged care policy in 2025
Stereotypes about wealthy baby boomers are skewing aged care policy. New fees, the shift to Support at Home, and pressures on community services risk leaving many older Australians without affordable, safe support. The consequences will be felt across families, hospitals and future generations. (more…)
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UK–US drug deal risks turning the NHS into a casualty of Trump trade politics
A new agreement with the Trump administration would force Britain’s National Health Service to pay billions more for medicines to avoid tariffs – prompting outrage from MPs, health experts and patient advocates.
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Why multicultural aged care is the key to meeting Australia’s ageing challenge
Australia’s ageing population is growing faster than the systems built to support it, especially for culturally and linguistically diverse communities. A co-designed, public–private aged care model offers a practical, humane and economically sound path to meet this challenge before crisis overwhelms the system. (more…)
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Root canals and conspiracies
Social media misinformation is creating a public health problem of lost teeth, prolonged dental pain, unnecessary costs, and worsening inequalities in oral health.
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Clean your room
During 1937, Lang Hancock from the Mulga Downs pastoral station in Western Australia began mining and milling activities for blue asbestos (crocidolite) at the nearby Yampire Gorge. (more…)
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Vaping: A disruptive innovation of smoking and rapidly replacing cigarettes
Recognised as a concept over three decades ago, “disruptive innovations” are new and improved ways of meeting consumers’ needs that generally sweep away conventional approaches of market-leading firms by a process of creative destruction. (more…)
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Living with schizophrenia
The title of this book is emblematic. It gets to the heart of the problem of schizophrenia, indeed within the authors’ preface. (more…)
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Dental health – time for a small, cost-effective revolution
In the many years I’ve been writing about the dental divide, the only movement I’ve seen is in the increasingly bad numbers around poor oral health, waiting lists and costs to patients. It’s time to see dental caries as a preventable disease. (more…)
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Super for teeth: Australia’s hidden dental crisis
Australians are increasingly raiding retirement savings to fix their teeth. New guidance from AHPRA and the ATO warns against abusive models. What’s really going on – and what should change? (more…)
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Harm reduction is ubiquitous and effective so why doesn’t Australia use it for tobacco?
Harm reduction policies are widespread, and generally work, are safe and cost-effective. (more…)
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Stark contrasts in health of returning hostages
Peter Slezak has been keeping a watching brief on the both harrowing and joyous scenes as prisoners and hostages from Palestine and Israel were freed this week. He has gathered sources for P&I readers and observes the following. (more…)
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Reclaiming care in the age of AI
Sixty years ago, the patient-doctor interaction was, at its best, about human beings connecting, engaging, listening, observing and caring. (more…)
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Who would be a carer?
Whether because of temporary disability or permanent need, the demand for accessible “holiday” accommodation is growing with our ageing population. (more…)
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Dying in prison
The political predilection for punishment is contributing to yet another stressor on prisons. As Australia’s prison population ages, so, too, do inmates risk dying inside. (more…)
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Australia faces a looming crisis of older women retiring in poverty. Here’s what we can do
Australia faces a serious challenge. Despite important progress on gender equality over recent decades, a looming crisis now threatens the economic security of older women. Without urgent and bold action, we risk consigning further generations of women to poverty in retirement. (more…)
