1. Top Three Health Challenges
Priyanka Bhandari
Australia
Indicator Data Value Date
Population 23.8 million people 2015
GNI per Capita $60,070 (USD) 2015
Life Expectancy (m/f) 81/85 years 2015
Health Expenditure per Capita $4.357 (USD) 2014
Health Expenditure (as % of GDP) 9.9% 2014
GINI Index 34.9 2010
Three Main Health Service Delivery Challenges
Healthcare, Globalization & Climate Change
• Global community (WHO, WHA) has encouraged equality of care in
Australian system, important for Aboriginals (2014)
• Forecast to have 5.3% agricultural productivity loss as result of climate
change by 2050 (2011)
• Ranks 64th in sea level rises, 45th in extreme weather risk for climate
change (geographically disadvantaged) (2011)
Three Major Health Care Policies
System Match/Mismatch to Health/Delivery Problems
• Rural areas less developed (2012)
• Example of system match: Australia got out in front of tobacco policy, has
one of the lowest smoking rates in the world (2015)
• Example of mismatch to health/delivery problems: obesity-related policy
and legislation yet to developed despite high percentage of obese
population in Australia (2015)
• Legislation is also difficult to coordinate due to complex structure of
Australia/Commonwealth (2015)
Future Outlook
National Health Care System
Called “Medicare”
Mix of public and private
• Government pays 69.9% of funding, 43% of this
is from Commonwealth, 26% from other levels
of government (2012)
• Individual out-of-pocket payments are 17.5%
(includes private insurance copayments) (2012)
• Tax accounts for 1.5% (2012)
Source: WHO
Mortality
• Ischemic heart disease
• Stroke
• Alzheimer’s and other
dementias
Morbidity
• Neuro-psychiatric
conditions
•Fragmentation arising from the divide between Commonwealth and state
funded services
•Complexities in funding, governance and reporting arrangements
•Poor coordination of service planning and delivery within the sector and with
other health care, social and welfare sectors
•System inadequacies, including workforce shortages
• First major healthcare policy is Medicare (2016)
• Established in 1984, provides universal access to health
• Started existing national healthcare system
• Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) provides subsidized drugs at a set
co-payment (2016)
• Private Health Insurance Incentives Scheme, which provided a means
tested subsidy for private insurance premiums, political attempt to privatize
healthcare (2005)
• World’s first tobacco plain packaging legislation
• Next big policy issue: obesity
• Practice Incentives Program for primary care physicians to adopt IT
strategies (2016)
Policy-based action
on obesity, health
lifestyles
Reducing incidence
of cancer, diabetes,
other persistent
health issues
Advancing medical
technology, IT
Source: OECDSource: OECD
Source: ABS