Australia’s health outcomes are among the best in the world. At the same time, as Australia’s Health 2012 notes, health system arrangements, which are mixture of public and private funding involving blurred lines of jurisdictional responsibility, multiple providers and a variety of regulatory regimes, are ‘nothing short of complex’.

This guide provides an overview of Australia’s complex health system: what governments do, the role of private health insurance, how much we spend on health care, how Australian health outcomes compare internationally, the health care workforce and links to further information and resources.