Report on Health Policy in Australia: Medicare and its Evolution

This report analyzes Australian health policy, focusing on the Medicare system. It explores the historical context of Medicare, tracing its development from the Whitlam government's Medibank to its current form. The report highlights the policy-making process, including the role of government officials and the influence of socio-political and economic factors. It also examines the implementation of Medicare, its benefits, and its impact on the healthcare system. The report references the Achievement Program and other relevant health policies, emphasizing the importance of evidence-based policy making in addressing public health needs and ensuring effective healthcare services for Australians. The analysis includes references to various sources that support the arguments and evidence presented in the report.

Running Head: HEALTH POLICY
HEALTH+ POLICY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

1HEALTH POLICY
Health policies in Australia is developed and implemented by the government officials
and the policy decision is influenced by the people who are in power and their dynamic of
networks that includes the economic and socio-political factors affecting the beliefs and values
of the policy makers. The policy process during the adoption of achievement program, which is a
settings based health promotion intervention is explained in this article about the Victorian
government in Australia [1].
A health policy known as Medicare is a publicly funded universal healthcare insurance
scheme. It is operational under Services Australia and is operated by several external territories.
The health care of Australia is paid by the monetary gains of Medicare as it majorly covers the
primary health services for citizens those are eligible, visitors and some residents [2].
The federal government looks after this policy after the power is granted to them by the
commonwealth constitution. The benefits are provided under this scheme but it does not
guarantee healthcare services directly. The hospitals are still under the state and territories, and it
is the duty of the commonwealth to work under their authority [3]. The development of Medicare
was done by the Whitlam government by the name Medibank and it was only for the Fraser
government. The Hawke government reformed the universal healthcare by the brand name of
Medicare. It was implemented by the government after going through several stages of
processing and evaluation. In March 1984, the Australians had a fairer and simpler health
insurance system [4].
After reflecting and critically analyzing the process, I can say that the whole procedure of
policy making by the government in Australia is systematic and efficient. It focuses on the needs
of the public and acts upon it immediately after consulting with fellow government officials

2HEALTH POLICY
while planning a health policy. The cycle of this policy making is made after thorough research,
which makes it evidence based.
References
1 Clarke B, Swinburn B, Sacks G. Understanding health promotion policy processes: a study of
the government adoption of the Achievement Program in Victoria, Australia. International
journal of environmental research and public health. 2018 Nov;15(11):2393.
2 Crettenden IF, McCarty MV, Fenech BJ, Heywood T, Taitz MC, Tudman S. How evidence-
based workforce planning in Australia is informing policy development in the retention and
distribution of the health workforce. Human Resources for Health. 2014 Dec 1;12(1):7.
3 McIlroy J. Gov't moves to sell Medibank Private. Green Left Weekly. 2014 Apr 9(1004):10.
4 Grafton RQ, Reinhardt W. An assessment framework for resilient public policy. In
Transformational Change in Environmental and Natural Resource Management 2016 Oct 4 (pp.
52-74). Routledge.