BMJ  2005;330:357-359 (12 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7487.357

Education and debate

Healthcare lessons from Australia: what can Michael Howard learn from John Howard?

Jane Hall, professor of health economics1, Alan Maynard, professor of health economics2

1 Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, 2 Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York YO10 5DD

Correspondence to: A Maynard akm3@york.ac.uk

Australia is held up as a model of how to increase use of private health care in the United Kingdom, but the effects of its reforms are not all beneficial

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Introduction

The Australian prime minister, John Howard, has engineered a major expansion in private healthcare insurance and been re-elected. The electorally popular Medicare provides universal coverage for free public hospital treatment, out of hospital medical services, and pharmaceuticals. Private insurance is limited to private treatment in hospital and some ancillary services, including dental care.1 Yet the two decade trend of falling insurance cover has been reversed, and over three years the proportion of the population insured grew from 30% to 45%.2 What can the leader of the British opposition, Michael Howard, and other European conservatives learn from an Australian colleague who has deliberately sought to enhance the role of the private sector?

Australian health service

John Howard and the Liberal party have been opposed to Medicare since its introduction in the early 1980s. In 1996, when the Liberal party was returned to government, it promised to maintain Medicare while strengthening private insurance. In fact, . . . [Full text of this article]

Reforms

Effect of reforms


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