Access to affordable primary healthcare through GPs has collapsed, forcing more people to rely on overcrowded and understaffed public hospitals. These hospitals, meant to be a last resort, have instead become the costly default option.
As John Menadue, editor-in-chief, Pearls and Irritations, AO, explains, our tax-funded universal healthcare system, introduced more than 40 years ago, has been deliberately underfunded for ideological reasons and to maintain public subsidies for private providers, including doctors, specialists, private hospitals, and health insurers.
It is no longer fit to meet the community’s evolving health needs and requires urgent structural reform – something politicians have been reluctant to pursue.
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Michael Lester is a public policy economist with a career in Commonwealth and State agencies, World Bank and OECD. His interests include innovation, environment, and governance. He presents programs on community radio.