Overview of Australian Health Care System: Structure, Governance, and Challenges

Running Head: AUSTRALIAN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM 1
AUSTRALIAN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
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AUSTRALIAN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM 2
Contents
Australian Health Care system, its structure, governance arrangements and function.................................3
Factors that have influenced the design and function of the system............................................................7
Challenges Facing Australian Health Care System.....................................................................................10
Australian Health Care system, its structure, governance arrangements and function
The healthcare system of Australia is a multifaceted network of settings and services. It
involves a number of private and public providers, participants, funding arrangements as well as

AUSTRALIAN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM 3
regulatory mechanisms. Australia, however, has the most accessible, affordable and all-inclusive
healthcare systems. It has the well-recognized health care systems all over the World. This
paper, therefore, provides an extensive overview of Australian health care system and how it
operates.
The land mass of Australia is nearly the same size as the USA or Western Europe. The
number of people who live in the cities is roughly 80 percent. A large number of individuals has
resulted in large regions having small, unpopulated or scattered settlements. Australia is
recognized as having the best health system in the World. It provides the best health services for
its people which has largely increased their lifespan in different ways ( Willis et al., 2009). The
Department of Health, as well as Ageing, plays the role of promoting good health while ensuring
all Australians have an access to health and family services such as;
 Pharmaceutical and Medicare and
 disability programs
 children's and family services
 community and aged care services
 healthcare and hospital funding
 health services for Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginal
 public health initiatives
 Emergency amenities for people involved in the crisis.
The Commonwealth has also created a broad policy of financing and leadership in
healthcare subjects. Besides, the Commonwealth pays attention to the fields of public health,
national information management as well as the research. The states and territories on the other

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side are mainly accountable for the public section health services delivery (Leahy et al.,2017).
They are also responsible for the regulation of health staff within the private and public sectors.
Ideally, the governance, regulation, and coordination of Australian health care services are
complex. They are the shared responsibilities among all levels of the government.
Delivery and planning of the services are divided between the non-government and
government sectors. The local and state of Australia provide public-sector health care services.
Private-sector health care service providers involve the medical as well as private hospitals
practitioners within the private services ( Handbook, 2107). Thee territories and states besides
provides psychiatric and public acute hospital services including dental health, school health,
child and maternal health as well as the environmental health programs.
The consumers, the non-government segment and all levels of the government have some
duty of administering, funding and providing health care for older persons. The Commonwealth
on the other side regulates and finances the residential aged care. However, the care is mainly
provided by the non-government section such as churches and for-profit givers. The states,
Commonwealth, and territories jointly administer and fund the community care such as home
help, delivered meals and transport. Besides, the Local government plays a significant role in the
delivering of services.The services are offered through giving free hygiene and sanitation, water
quality monitoring and food safety ( Handbook, 2107). The concept here is much based on
politics, with the view of water shortage and recycled water across the world. In the year 2013
and 2014, the spending of health in Australia was roughly estimated at 155 billion dollars, more
than the 2/3 that came from the government. However, the healthcare expenditure has been
growing progressively from the year to another in the recent era. The data reveals that the latest
2years of progress have been quite slow.