Comparative Study of Healthcare Systems: Australia and France (MHC)

This report provides a comparative analysis of the healthcare systems in Australia and France, focusing on the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model in Australia and the universal healthcare system in France. The paper begins by highlighting the importance of healthcare insurance and the varying approaches across different nations. It then delves into a detailed examination of the Australian healthcare system, emphasizing the PPP model, its advantages like resource management and timely service, and disadvantages such as high costs and procurement complexities. Subsequently, the report explores the universal healthcare system of France, outlining its financing, advantages like reduced costs and preventive care, and disadvantages like potential for overuse and long waiting times. The analysis culminates in a comparison of the two systems, discussing their respective merits and drawbacks, and offering recommendations for the future of healthcare, particularly within the context of the Australian PPP model. The report concludes with a discussion on the future prospects of the Australian healthcare system, the role of Medicare, and the importance of adapting to changing patient needs and technological advancements.

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Masters of Health Care Management

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Comparing the Healthcare Systems of Australia and France.....................................................3
Public Private Partnerships in Australia.....................................................................................3
Advantages of PPP.................................................................................................................4
Disadvantages of PPP............................................................................................................4
Universal Healthcare in France..................................................................................................5
Advantages of Universal Healthcare......................................................................................5
Disadvantages of Universal Healthcare.................................................................................5
Which is system is better: Universal Healthcare over PPP?......................................................6
Recommendations and Conclusion............................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
It is very important for people to stay and healthy. Only a healthy person can be happy and
productive in his/ her life. Thus the people in every nation no matter which class, creed, sex
they belong to need proper health insurances to cover their health expenditures. The
government in most of the nations is now very active and conscious about providing health
coverage to its people for the social welfare of the nation. The policies, systems and practices
of healthcare are quite different across the globe. In this paper, the healthcare system of
Australia has been analysed and evaluated with emphasis on the Public Private Partnership
(PPP). This healthcare system varies from that of other nations and so a comparative study
has been made between the healthcare system of Australia, PPP and that of France which has
a universal healthcare system. In the last section of the paper the future prospects of the
healthcare sector has been analysed and required recommendations have been made. It is very
important for people to have a health insurance because the people who are uninsured will get
less of medical care and access to required medical services. In fact the people who come
under no healthcare coverage will not get a timely treatment for their health issues. This
would result in poor health standards and poor quality of life for the people. The timely and
quality healthcare provided to the people will reduce the fiscal burden on the patients and
their families. The costs of the healthcare coverage are less than the benefits which the people
and the government get out of these services and insurances.
Comparing the Healthcare Systems of Australia and France
Healthcare is a very important part of a person’s life and most of the people want to get
insured for healthcare. The reason behind this is that a proper healthcare coverage helps the
people to get a timely treatment for their health issues as well as get it without pinching their
pockets. However, not all healthcare systems across nations or even within the same nation
provide similar coverage.
Public Private Partnerships in Australia
The healthcare system of Australia follows he hybrid model which provides healthcare based
on the Public Private Partnership (PPP). This system facilitates the health care of the citizens
as well as the refugees. They can utilise the healthcare from the private as well as the public
healthcare concerns. The main concept of a PPP is that the public agency comes into a
contract with the private agency, one of which can be a for profit and the other a not-for-
profit organisation, for providing healthcare services, equipment, facilities, etc (FASO, I. B.

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2016). In case of the PPPs the public officials or agencies come together with the private
service providers, civic groups, media, etc. in order to plan, implement and evaluate the
required healthcare services for the people of Australia. The PPPs are neither a national or
state system nor a service coming from privatisation of the healthcare sector.
Advantages of PPP
The main advantage of the PPP healthcare system is that it promotes adequate investment for
resource management in the public as well as the private sector. The public services which
used to be delayed earlier are now prompt (Osei-Kyei & Chan, 2015). People are getting
timely provision as well as good quality of services from the combined efforts of both the
sectors. The projects which are taken up under the PPP systems are implemented within the
due time and do not incur huge unwanted costs of execution. The private sectors put in their
expertise and the years of experience into the PPP projects making them a huge success. The
risk management is also properly planned and the people are well insured for all their
healthcare requirements (Delmon, 2017). The people get a priority treatment from the best
specialists under this system. The system provides a continuous flow in the healthcare. The
private sector health insurance transferability is also ensured under PPP.
Disadvantages of PPP
There are several disadvantages of the PPP system. This healthcare system requires
expensive services and infrastructure. The fiscal indicators of the public sector can be
affected by the PPP project payments out of the public sector funds (Sharma & Bindal, 2014).
The procurement of the PPP service takes a longer time. These are in fact much costlier than
the traditional procurement procedures. The major disadvantage of the PPP is that these
projects for healthcare are for a longer duration of time (Chou & Pramudawardhani, 2015).
The projects are more complicated and quite inflexible in nature. The other cons of the PPP
are the high cost of seeking healthcare services which are under the Non-Pharmaceutical
Benefit Scheme, the variation in the insurances of the private sector, the premium payment
inconsistency, etc.
The PPP can be of great advantage to the people of Australia if the initiatives are taken to
understand the suitability of a particular project which is implemented in the provided setup.
The PPP projects needs proper evaluation and apt selection understanding the needs of the
people. The projects which are initiated under the PPP must be analysed for understanding

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their benefits, threats, efficiency, etc. The main requirement for all PPP projects is the far
sightedness during the planning.
Universal Healthcare in France
In France the healthcare system which is implemented widely is the Universal Healthcare.
Under this system, the healthcare projects and programmes are all financed by the
government through its national Health Insurance (Gray & Jani, 2016). In the survey of the
World Health Organisation in the year 2000, it was said that the healthcare system of France
is closest to the best possible healthcare which can be provided to the people in a nation. The
healthcare system is such that the funds come partially out of the social security
contributions. These contributions are made out of the deductions from the salary of the
employees. The combination is such that the employers pay around 13 percent towards the
healthcare while the employees pay 8 percent out of their salaries towards covering the
healthcare costs. The government pays a part of the healthcare while the patient during the
care makes a small amount of contribution to the healthcare expenses. Universal system of
healthcare provides the healthcare facilities to all the people irrespective of their abilities to
pay for the care. This is an initiative of the federal government.
Advantages of Universal Healthcare
There are many pros of the universal healthcare as this healthcare system helps in reducing
the costs of healthcare in France. The prices for medical services and medication are under
the control of the government. There are many regulations on the pricing of healthcare
services and they are subject to negotiation as well. The private health insurers do not have to
be dealt with incurring a huge administrative cost. The medical professionals are also
facilitated as they now deal with the government agency directly. The hospitals and service
providers have to provide the best facility possible at the lowest cost. The system of
Universal Healthcare helps the people to be a part of a workforce which is healthier and much
more productive. The preventive care is provided to the people in due time. The need for
emergency rooms in less as the people are already provided and insured for the required
healthcare.
Disadvantages of Universal Healthcare
The major drawback of the universal healthcare system is that the people are forced to pay for
the healthcare of the other people as well (Abou-Haidar, et.al, 2014). Most of the healthcare
costs are made up of the heart diseases and diabetic problems. The total healthcare costs are

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consumed by the 5 percent population who are the sickest. They consume up to 50 percent of
the healthcare facilities while the majority of healthy population use only 3 percent of the
healthcare benefits (Martin, et.al, 2014). People under universal health care system tend to
neglect their health as they know that they are already fully insured for their healthcare. There
are people who purposely use the emergency rooms and medical care of doctors as they know
that they have a free access to it without any further pay. The copay system makes people
mean in using their healthcare facilities (Robert & Liu, 2014). The government aims at
providing the best healthcare but the waiting time for accessing the healthcare is quite long
and inconvenient at many times.
The universal care can be improved by making the system more efficient in providing the
treatment in a prompt manner. The burden of paying out of the pockets for the healthcare
must be reduced. The people need to be aware of their health care and not wait for using their
insured care facilities.
Which is system is better: Universal Healthcare over PPP?
One would want to choose either the universal healthcare system or the Public-Private
Partnership based on their respective benefits. The former has coverage for more number of
healthcare services than the later. However Australia has an added advantage in terms of the
expenditure. The facilities and quality of care provided in France is much better than any
other country and it is cheaper than the care provided in U.S (Lee, et.al, 2014). In Australia,
the care and the services are also quite high standard. In fact one would want to choose the
PPP over the universal healthcare system because unlike the former the people are not
compelled to pay for the healthcare. The people in Australia are given free inpatient,
medicines, access to the care units, etc. There are some voluntary health insurances as well
which cover for the services which do not come under public scheme coverage. The
government is Australia makes around 75 to 85 percent contribution towards outpatient care
and other medical services. One is better off by the combined care of the private and public
agency, which they get though PPP in Australia.
Future of Public Private Partnership healthcare system of Australia
The Australian healthcare system is a combination of Universal health care or the
Public healthcare providers and private healthcare providers (Australian Institute of Health,
2012). The majority healthcare system is provided by the public hospitals and rest is provided
by the private sector. Although, Australian healthcare system is one of the best in

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Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), it has been issues
concerning rise in demands of better healthcare and improved policies. There has been a
constant pressure to deal with the changing needs of patients and various technological
advancements. Considering the future changes, policymakers can address the changes
required in the policies related to patients, patient’s engagement in healthcare delivery and
remodeling the funding mechanisms. If compared to any other healthcare system in the
world, Australian healthcare system, it still faces certain issues and to fill the gap,
improvements are warranted. Medicare is a mandatory public insurance scheme in Australia
providing healthcare coverage to its citizens. The Medicare policy has two components,
direct payment made to the doctors and payments made to public hospitals through state and
territories (Wade, Soar & Gray, 2014). The formulation of various health policies concerning
public health is still dependent on Commonwealth. Commonwealth shares the costs with
other state and territory governments in order to implement improved health policies. The
prospects considering the healthcare policies is on the brighter side. State and territory
government can help the Public hospitals to follow quality and performance mechanisms
which are established by the federal government.
Australia has an array of physicians and health practitioners providing advanced
healthcare facilities to its citizens. Australia’s health policy encourages its patients to select
either public or private healthcare system to get treated. Both public and private systems
provide utmost care for the patients. It is also observed that unsubsidized part of private
hospitals expenses and medical costs are mostly covered by private insurance plans. The
improvements can be done in policies of private hospitals in order to reframe their medical
costs. This can be a barrier for patients who do not have private insurance. Researchers and
experts have coined that the expenditure of patients can be reduced by length of their hospital
stays. Current incentive policies of medical practitioners can be redesigned to improve their
efficiency. Australian healthcare system uses the bundled payment system where the
opportunity lies in creating a model that focuses only on patient convenience while making
the policies. In comparison with the French healthcare system, Australian healthcare must
improve its payment policies (Himmelstein, 2014). The waiting time policies needs to be
redesigned. There needs to be a cultural change considering the gaps in discharge policies
rather than making structural changes in them. The policies should consider improving the
quality of care provided to the patients. The policies should be framed for regular health
check ups in the rural Australian regions where the quality of healthcare is comparatively

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lower than the services provided in the major cities. The Aboriginal Australian people
experience the worst healthcare in entire Australia. Policy makers are considering about the
growth in maintaining electronic health records in their systems.
Universal healthcare system of France
The healthcare system of France is a model of national health insurance that aims at
providing health care coverage to all the legal citizens of France. The France healthcare
system is a combination of public security and private health care financing services (Rosen,
2015). The healthcare system gives its patients a freedom to choose their desired doctors and
hospitals, there is a diversity in selecting the best healthcare service options, there are policies
for patients who are financially not strong. Although there are a range of policies that make
healthcare system of France one of the best in the world, there are certain policy changes that
needs to be addressed. These policies help in providing better and improved services to
patients. There is a difference in French system of healthcare in comparison to other
European healthcare systems. The French healthcare system does not a choice to its patients
in terms of selecting their health insurance policies. The essential services provided in the
plan must be taken by the patients which becomes an issue and needs to be addressed. It is
also observed that insurers pay the same price for the services provided in the hospitals. The
patients in French healthcare system are provided with the liberty to select their preferred
doctors and healthcare facilities to get treated. There are no restrictions regarding this, but the
patients have to pay a higher amount to privately visit a doctor. But policy makers are
constantly making policies to reduce the expenses. The policy should also consider framing
co-insurance and voluntary health insurance coverage. There are expenses which the patients
incur even after getting covered in their basic insurance plan. There should be policies to fund
these expenses such as the co-insurance policies in future. This will put lesser burden on the
patients and free voluntary health insurances can be provided by the French government.
Although, co-insurance may help the patients who are financially not strong, policies for
sicker patients and elders should also be framed. The patients who earn below the ceiling set
by the French government, they should be provided with co-insurance and their payments
should be covered within that insurance. This issue can be resolved by framing policies by
the National Health Insurance of France. Patients who are suffering from serious medical
conditions should be provided with various benefits like a longer stay and expenses should be
covered in their policies. There should be policies that should benefit the patients by setting
up their annual expenditures. The policy should include the cost of expenditure of certain

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illness and medical facilities that the patient wishes to avail. The Parliament can approve the
annual budget for the healthcare services target in the coming years. The physicians should
charge low from patients who are financially not stable and prices can be negotiated with
them in the coming years. It should be the responsibility of the French government and the
National Health Insurance to understand the needs of the patients and accordingly frame
policies to benefit them.
Recommendations and Conclusion
After a close perusal of above facts and information it can be concluded that every citizen
throughout the world desire to lead a healthy life. In fact, they also desire to get a health
insurance done so that they can reap the best fruits out of the sum they have insured.
Australia follows the system of a hybrid model, which is known as the Public Private
Partnership. This is a wide system incorporating the health issues of a wide quantity of
citizens. France follows the module of the Universal Healthcare whereby the French
government is involved to provide health care facilities and insurance to all the citizens. Both
these systems possess their own advantages and disadvantages and the people have to choose
them wisely as per their needs.
There often lies a confusion with regard to the choosing of one over the other. But having a
look at the advantages and disadvantages sector, one can easily decide based on their
requirements.
To improve the Universal Healthcare, it is recommended that the costs which are forcibly
paid by the people must be reduced. It is also recommended, that the distribution of these
facilities should be divided amongst the population who are sicker even more. Another
recommendation for this is that it should be made more convenient for the people. With
regard to the PPP system, it is recommended that the prices should be decreased and the
facilities should be made more advanced to cure the diseases. The time span should also be
reduced to reach the effectiveness of its action. It is further recommended that the fiscal
indicators of the public sector should not be impacted upon the working of the PPP. The
complications should be reduced and it easy for people of all sections to use it efficiently.
The implementation of these recommendation would make the systems more attractive.

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