Consumers frustrated by the confusion and uncertainty of choosing the right health insurance policy will gain real buying power under a reform plan proposed by the Consumers Health Forum.

Foreword Australian governments have maintained a strong focus on health policy over many years. Much of that focus has been cast as a reform agenda, addressing pressures facing health expenditure and public funding of health care; pressures on hospitals and the health workforce, and pressures arising from an ageing population, increasing chronic diseases affecting more...

This paper is motivated by our attempt to answer an empirical question: how is private health insurance take-up in Australia affected by the income threshold at which the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS) kicks in? We propose a new difference de-convolution kernel estimator for the location and size of regression discontinuities. We also propose a bootstrapping...

This paper looks at the potential gains and impacts involved from extending the GST to private schools and private health insurance. Overview The Coalition Government's proposed amendments to the GST have been attacked for disproportionately impacting low-income households. But the GST doesn't have to be so regressive. By extending the tax to include private health...

If the National Disability Insurance Scheme is to be an effective policy for Indigenous Australians, it needs to take into account their particular needs and aspirations. Overview The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is one of the major policy innovations of the early 21st century in Australia, representing a new way of delivering services to...