Using microsimulation, Agnes Walker finds that if a policy was implemented which resulted in the lifting of the health status of all Australians to that of the most affluent 20 per cent in the population, then close to one million fewer Australians are estimated to be disabled, over 180,000 life years could be saved, health...

The new private health insurance reforms - in particular the 30 per cent rebate and Lifetime Health Cover - were partly aimed at relieving pressures on public hospitals. Combining the use of two new models - Private Health Insurance and NSW hospitals - Agnes Walker, Richard Percival, Linc Thurecht, Jim Pearse estimate that, with the...

The study found that the poor used public hospitals more than the rich, however for private hospitals this pattern was reversed - with patients in the poorest socioeconomic group having a 19 per cent lower hospitalisation rate than patients in the richest such group. Other findings were that, despite little change in the utilisation of...

This study examines the socioeconomic status of NSW hospital patients in 1999-2000 and projects likely hospital costs to 2009-10. It draws upon unique patient based datasets from NSW public and private hospitals that include hospital admissions, as well as the associated treatment costs in each of the four years to 1999-2000.

This paper reports on an application of a dynamic microsimulation model which accounts - amongst many other variables - for the links between Australians' socioeconomic status and their health. The full model simulates individuals' life cycles over a 20 to 30 year period. Its base year data was developed using a 1 per cent unit...