CHF: Cost-inequity tension
April 28, 2014
Adam Stankevicius, ceo of
the Consumers Health Forum of
Australia (CHF), has summarised
findings from the CHF journal
Health Voices, which asked about
20 experts to explain how we could
get a “better bang for the buck” out
of Australia’s $140b a year health
expenditure.
Considering the cost challenges
facing maintenance of a universal
health scheme, Stankevicius
said there was a wide range
of apparently feasible options
available to make health care better
and more cost effective.
“CHF believes that the nub of
the health system dilemma is the
tension between equity and cost of
health care.”
Referring to health minister Peter
Dutton’s thinking to expand health
insurance cover, Stankevicius said
this would further inflate premiums
and even more deeply stratify the
two tiered system.
In his contribution to Health
Voices, Emeritus Professor of Public
Health Stephen Leeder said there
was no reason for government to
back away from universal health
care but that it was more a matter
of getting the system right and
managing it well.
A theme throughout many
responses to the Health Voices
survey revolved around self-care,
an issue raised by CHF’s Deborah
Smith and Sarah Spiller.
Health economist Jennifer
Doggett identified five steps
Australia could take: focus on
prevention, set up uniform federalstate
health standards, foster
co-ordinated care for chronic
conditions and redirect health
insurance rebates to support
patient choice of private or public
systems.
Stankevicius said in all options,
the organisation asked that
consumers, as the reason which
the system exists, should be the
beneficiaries of health system
change, not poorer because of it.
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