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HEALTH & WELLBEING

A Fairer Approach to Risk Equalisation

Wed, 17/09/2008 - 12:52 — John Rashleigh

John Rashleigh

Managed well, Risk Equalisation has an important social role to play in ensuring health insurance is available to all Australian citizens, alleviating considerable pressure from the public purse. 

I'd like to highlight an area of regulation pertaining to the private health insurance sector that urgently requires reform.

The Risk Equalisation scheme must be amended, because at the moment, it totally lacks equity. Through my role as Chairman of HIRMAA (the peak body for restricted and regional funds I've been raising this contention with the Federal government (and the previous one) for quite a while. Unfortunately regulatory reform in this area is being stymied, due to no good reason I can see, other than the powerful opposition of the big insurers.

Risk Equalisation is essentially a new name for what we used to call reinsurance. It's a concept which has been a central aspect of private health insurance since October 1976 (having been preceded by a similar arrangement known as the Special Account that had been introduced in 1959). 

I agree we need to retain the system of Risk Equalisation funds pooling. However, because of the differences between the big and small players, a far more equitable approach would be to have two separate pools.

Can the ads

Tue, 22/04/2008 - 11:34 — gapadmin

Justine HodgeBy Justine Hodge

Will baby steps be enough to keep our kids healthy?

Last week the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) released its revised ‘Advertising to Children Code' heralding "major changes". This was a great opportunity for the advertising industry to demonstrate corporate responsibility and to attempt to make significant impact towards improving the health of Australian children.

Australian children are amongst the world's highest viewers of junk food advertisements on television. Nearly 30% of children are now overweight or obese and levels are rising rapidly. This is no mere coincidence. Obesity and health experts across the globe agree that children are directly influenced by the foods they see advertised on television, and that the use of premium such as toys and competitions result in increased pestering for the specific products that they are associated with.

Sadly, the new AANA Code does not make any real headway in controlling the high levels of junk food advertising to children or the use of pester power to sell unhealthy foods. The media release distributed by AANA claims that the new Code includes a "prohibition against ‘pester power'"; however the detail of the Code actually states that an advertisement "must not contain an appeal to children to urge their parents or carers to buy a product for them".

EXCLUSIVE: Question & Answer with Tony Abbott

Mon, 03/03/2008 - 10:50 — olgabodrova

In an effort to facilitate a higher level of consultation between our community and decision makers, we are planning a number of "Question & Answer" sessions with Australia's key thought leaders. Our first guest is The Hon. Tony Abbott MHR, former Federal Minister for Health and Ageing. Here are his thoughts on the national health care reform, hospital crisis, electronic health records, community consultation, and more.

eHealth Records – Where Are They?

Malcolm Crompton's picture
Wed, 05/12/2007 - 12:41 — Malcolm Crompton

We have been talking eHealth records for years.  Almost worldwide, the topic is treated by many in the health informatics arena as a self‑evident necessity, by some health service providers as an investment and re‑training imposition with little direct return to their practices and by health consumers with suspicion. There appear to be countless reasons for this impasse, in Australia as elsewhere. 

To Australia's blood donors: "every day someone thanks you"

Tue, 16/09/2008 - 13:05 — Pip Hetzel

Pip Hetzel

Current blood stocks in Australia are dangerously low.

In the past 12 months more than 500,000 Australians have selflessly given up their time to make more than 1.2 million blood donations.

They give their blood anonymously, but little do they know that every day someone thanks them.

The importance of blood to the community can never be understated as thousands of people rely on blood and blood products to improve the quality of their lives.

To let blood donors know how special they are, 15-21st September has been designated as National Blood Donor Week. During the week local milestone donors will be commemorated at official functions across the nation.

One single blood donation helps to save up to three lives - the lives of people with cancer, mothers and children, as well burns and accident victims. The blood service would like to join those who need blood by saying thank you too.

E-Health system

Mon, 21/07/2008 - 02:18 — foggy

With the click of a button e-health system will answer all the needs of all in the health care picture as it exists. That is wishful thinking. In my country Pakistan first of all a complete database of existing healthcare services will be required. Next updating of this database will have to be done relentlessly and constantly. The picture has a humungous range. From State-of-the-Art medical facilities to one room medical care centres devoid of doctors, medicine and supportive medical staff there in our rural "outback"!!

To connect this wide range of facility would be like comparing a life saving operation through internet communication, with rescue squad on a "chopper" saving the life of an injured survivor on the slopes of a thickly forested mountain. That would be some communication, coordination, expedited instruction!!! But how would that be for just a beginning!? 

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