The Australian Medical Association (AMA) invites interested people and organisations to make a submission in response to this discussion paper on a whole-of- system approach to reforming the private healthcare system.

The AMA’s 2021 Private Health Insurance Report Card highlights the trends that exist for private health insurance and the impacts and problems these trends continue to cause.

This report provides an extensive analysis of how low-income households both value insurance and what they consider when making their insurance decisions. The findings point to both practical barriers, such as cost, for low-income households, as well as attitudinal differences in the perception of how...

For the past twenty years, private health insurance premiums have been rising faster than wages and inflation. Australians are paying more, but getting less. This report outlines a path that the federal government and the industry can take to create a viable future for private...

The objective of this audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Australian Department of Health’s approach to health provider compliance.

Regular reporting of national health expenditure is important to understanding Australia’s health system and how spending relates to changes such as the ageing population, increased chronic disease prevalence, and medicinal and technological developments. This report presents estimates of the amount spent on health goods and...

The AMA Private Health Insurance Report Card 2019 provides consumers with clear, simple information about how health insurance really works. However, it again highlights an insurance system under pressure.

The COVID-19 pandemic presents both opportunities and challenges to private health insurers, with short-term and long-term impacts and questions being raised about its role and relevance during this time.

The research in this paper suggests that Australia’s private health insurers are set to enjoy a windfall of between $3.5 billion and $5.5 billion over the next six months.

This report analyses key competition and consumer developments and trends in the private health insurance industry between 1 July 2018 and 30 June 2019, including ACCC enforcement and other actions relating to the health sector.

New private health insurance data show young people are continuing to drop their cover. But the industry's argument a youth exodus will put pressure on public hospitals isn't necessarily right.

Younger consumers are spending more on private hospital insurance, but getting less value for their money. The industry faces major issues, as costs for older people rise and younger people leave. This report lays out a transition to make private hospital care better value for...

Private health insurance premiums could be cut by up to 10 per cent if private hospitals were made more efficient and stopped over-servicing, according to this Grattan Institute report. The report also highlights the additional costs generated by a handful of ‘greedy’ doctors charging their...

This is the fourth in the AMA’s annual series of report cards on private health insurance. It is designed to assist patients/consumers by highlighting the differences in private health insurance policies, the operations of funds, and the changes implemented by the Australian government.

In 2017–18, an estimated $185.4 billion was spent on health goods and services in Australia. This equates to an average of approximately $7,485 per person and represents 10% of overall economic activity for this period.

Hooked on subsidies, the system is failing. The government needs to move beyond its prejudices about public and private financing, writes Jennifer Doggett.

This health plan charts the way forward for Australia over the next 3 and 10 years in the key areas of mental health, primary care, hospitals, preventive health and medical research.

Australia’s private health insurance industry fears it is in a death spiral, and politicians need to rethink whether or to what extent taxpayers should continue to subsidise the industry. This paper finds that Australians are increasingly dissatisfied with private health insurance, and policy reform is...

This audit examined whether the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and three audited public health services are effectively managing private practice in public hospitals to optimise outcomes for the health sector and Victorians.

Australia's peak body for social services has released its health election policy priorities, designed to reduce the worst service gaps in health care for people on low incomes, and end some of the waste in the system.

On 1 April 2019, private health insurance begins the most extensive changes in recent years. The aim of this guide is to provide an easy-to-understand overview of the changes and point consumers to more detailed information that will help them work through the changes to...

The rapid growth in out-of-pocket (OOP) costs has undermined the universality of Medicare and the effectiveness of private health insurance. This paper offers a road map for tackling the problems associated with OOP costs through short- and long- term initiatives, backed by evidence and informed...

This report analyses key competition and consumer developments and trends in the private health insurance industry between 1 July 2017 and 30 June 2018, including ACCC enforcement and other actions relating to the health sector.

Australia could save $1.5 billion a year on health spending by improving the safety of patient care in hospitals. Safer hospital care doesn’t just reduce harm to patients, it also saves money for taxpayers.

This report discusses the detrimental impacts of the changes on consumers, particularly those in regional Australia. The report also considers the appropriateness of communications that Bupa provided to policyholders about the changes.