Evaluating the Impact of National Health Reforms in Australia

This report provides an analysis of national health reforms in Australia, focusing on the influence of governmental policies on the healthcare system. It examines the role of Medicare, the primary governmental body providing free medical facilities, and the impact of various policy changes, such...Read More

Running Head: NATIONAL HEALTH REFORMS
NATIONAL HEALTH REFORMS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Discussion:.......................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................4
References:......................................................................................................................................5

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Introduction:
Australian Health care is mainly functioned and sponsored by the Australian Government and
the territories and aided by some private sector organizations and non-governmental
organizations (Mossialos, Wenzl, Osborn & Sarnak, 2016). Medicare is the only governmental
body that serves free medical facilities to all the citizens of Australia. Other medical programs
are also available for certain specific population group of the country like veterans and the
Indigenous Australians. Medicare is financially supported by the government by implying
taxation system over the citizens. The federal minister of Health adopts national health policies
for the welfare of the citizens of the nation (Lock, 2018). The state and territory governmental
officials administers the operations and management of the health care system. The aim of the
argument is to bring out the governmental policies ,i.e, the political influence rather than
strategic decision making which hampers the effectiveness of health care reforms and citizens to
receive basic health care facilities.
Discussion:
The government is primarily concerned with the funding procedure for health care reform in
individual fields like pharmaceuticals, aged care, surgeries, and infrastructure. But they are not
concerned with the duties, responsibilities and integration programs of the individual health care
professionals. Australian Government spends the lowest percentage of its Gross domestic
product (GDP) on healthcare facilities, unlike other countries. The previous Government
implemented Child Care Benefit Act, comprising Special Child Care Benefit and Grandparent
Child Care Benefit. They provided benefits to all children in special need, providing lump sum
amount of money in support, including health reforms. But the current government in power

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changed the Act to Child Care Subsidy in 2018, where children have to meet a huge list of
criteria and have to face enormous difficulties before obtaining the facility. (Department of
Human Australian Government, 2019).
There are no principles or values implementation or regulation by the governmental policies, to
guide the health programs. Certain governmental services which are free, suffers lack of
amendments in instrument technologies and service provision procedures. The governmental
politicians spread the approval of bulk billing of drugs and pharmaceutical department but on the
other hand they support hike in prices of the individual medicines and hike in pharmaceutical
department (Li & Powdthavee, 2015). However, the opposition of the Government suggested a
change in policy of the prevailing Government that is a lot of drugs should be included in
Pharmaceutical Benefits Act, for easy access to mainly cancer patients and poor people. Previous
Government provided benefits, and reduced the complication between public and private health
sectors providing equal facilities. But, present Government stated that if a person chooses to opt
for private hospital, the unsubsidized part must be covered by private insurance plan, and state
will not take any responsibility. In Australia, hence health care facilities in private hospitals can
be unreachable to those who were not having money or private health insurance (Mossialos et
al., 2016).
Strategic planning in health care field is very crucial as it has become more important to
focus and plan for the future for any health care norms to be successful. Through a definite
planning strategy, the hospitals, clinics and other health care institutions can be better prepared
and equipped (Jackson & Hambleton, 2017). The basic problem in implementation of the
strategies and educating people about the issues, the facilities can also be a significant barrier in
the healthcare sector. The development of measurable goals, health strategies to impart the

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facilities to everyone can be done. There is a definite lack of promoting the facilities to people.
Research have shown that inspite of the presence of various advantages and facilities like
medicare, people in rural area are completely unaware, because of lack of proper implementation
of the strategies. So, it can be a potential deficit that leads to problems in healthcare
reforms(Reform, 2019).
Australian Government has invested an extra amount of near about 7.8 billion dollars in the year
2014 for the fundamental reform of Australian health system (health.gov, 2019). This ensures
that reasonable and available health care is being provided to all the citizens of Australia as well
as to manage with the future demands of the health system in a sustainable manner. Such
amendments are implemented in order to improve the health system of Australia, continuous
improvement and increased focus is acknowledged and implemented on primary health care.
Infrastructural investments and amendments are also an additional step towards achieving the
focused goal of improved health in the society (Freeman et. al., 2016). The government has
adopted another policy of Activity Based Funding where the government will incentive those
hospitals which will treat more number of patients in an efficient manner with proper health care
implementations. They will be provided with elective surgery and emergency department care
units, new operation theaters and emergency department beds. These reforms will provide and
distribute healthier health care and hospital services (Reform, 2019).
Conclusion:
The topic can be concluded by acknowledging that the government lacks certain
strategies to implement the amendments and actions taken by it. The health care system needs to
adopt planning strategies and implement their actions on the total population of Australia. The

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natives of Australia as well as the indigenous deprived people must be treated equally in order to
achieve progressing health system throughout the nation.

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References:
Freeman, T., Baum, F. E., Jolley, G. M., Lawless, A., Edwards, T., Javanparast, S., & Ziersch, A.
(2016). Service providers' views of community participation at six Australian primary healthcare
services: scope for empowerment and challenges to implementation. The International journal of
health planning and management, 31(1), E1-E21. https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.2253
Freeman, T., Baum, F., Lawless, A., Javanparast, S., Jolley, G., Labonté, R., ... & Sanders, D.
(2016). Revisiting the ability of Australian primary healthcare services to respond to health
inequity. Australian Journal of Primary Health, 22(4), 332-338. Australian Journal of Primary
Health 22(4) 332-338 https://doi.org/10.1071/PY14180
health.gov. (2019). Department of Health | The national health reform agenda - implications for
CVD. Retrieved 25 July 2019, from
https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/cardio-pubs-revresp-
toc~cardio-pubs-revresp-nat
Jackson, C. L., & Hambleton, S. J. (2017). Australia’s Health Care Homes: laying the right
foundations. Med J Aust, 206(9), 380-381. doi: 10.5694/mja16.01470
Li, J., & Powdthavee, N. (2015). Does more education lead to better health habits? Evidence
from the school reforms in Australia. Social Science & Medicine, 127, 83-91.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.07.021
Lock, M. J. (2018). Australian Healthcare Governance and the Cultural Safety and Security of
Australia’s First Peoples: An Annual Critique. No. 1: Focussing on Knowledge Governance.
Committix Pty Ltd, Newcastle. DOI: 10.13140/ RG.2.2.26818.63688

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Mossialos, E., Wenzl, M., Osborn, R., & Sarnak, D. (2016). 2015 international profiles of health
care systems. Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health. Retrieved from
http://web90.opencloud.dssdi.ugm.ac.id/wp-content/uploads/sites/644/2016/11/Countries_-
Comparison.pdf
Reform, O. (2019). Obstacles to Health Reform - Centre for Policy Development. Retrieved 25
July 2019, from https://cpd.org.au/2007/07/obstacles-to-health-reform/