Nature of health care in Australia

The role of the health care system in Australia is to provide facilities and services that meet the needs of all Australians. Facilities and services may be either government owned, funded and delivered, or alternatively provided by private practitioners and organisations on a fee-for-service based system. Traditionally, Australias health care system has been predominantly based around diagnosis, screening treatment, care and rehabilitation and only a very small proportion of funding has gone to health prevention and promotion campaigns. In recent times, there has been a shift towards the new public health approach which recognizes health promotion as an essential element in enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health. It also promotes an intersectoral approach where government and non-governmental organisations public and private sectors! wor" together at all levels to improve the provision of health care. Ranges of health care and facilities Two types # Institutional and $on institutional Institutional psych hosp and group home facilitations Ambulance Nursing home and hostels Public and private hospitals Specialists optometry Non Institutional Health care - GPs Special clinics ultrasound etc

Access To health care facilities and services Medicare introduced in !"# provided all Australians $ith %ASI& health care' covers visits to GPs and public hospitals(

People using the system for surgery and emergency care are at disadvantage Several groups in Australia have a disadvantage this reflected by Access or have s)ills to the net *ac) of )no$ledge on health issues Illiterate +o not have a strong ,nglish spea)ing bac)ground -nable to afford services covered by Medicare +isability People living in rural and remote areas

.urther support is provided through the pharmaceutical benefit scheme and the Medicare Safety Net( Responsibility for health care Public and private sectors responsible for health care &ommon$ealth Govt provides funding to states and territories to enable resources to be allocated their responsibility is Medicare P%S /epatriation hospitals NS+ 0 national drug strategies1 ,d resources

They deliver Hosp Mental health 2omens health Aboriginal health services

+ental Health promo .amily health

Funding of health care in Australia

The Australian health system is comple%, with many different providers of services, and a range of funding and regulatory mechanisms. Funding is provided by the &ommonwealth Federal! 'overnment, (tate and Territory governments, health insurers, individual Australians and a range of other sources. The &ommonwealths funding includes two national subsidy schemes )edicare and the *harmaceutical +enefits (cheme *+(!. These schemes cover all Australians and subsidies their payments for medical services and for a high proportion of prescription medicines bought from pharmacies. The &ommonwealth and (tate 'overnments also ,ointly fund public hospital services so they are provided free of charge to patients. +etween them, these three funding provisions aim to give all Australians, regardless of their personal circumstances, access to ade-uate health care at an affordable cost. (uccessive governments for almost ./ years have supported these arrangements, with minor modifications. )edicare is a system that is partly funded by ta%payers, who pay what is "nown as a )edicare levy as part of their ta%. 0egardless of what fee is charged by the medical practitioner, every Australian is covered for 123 of a scheduled fee. This is a set amount determined by the government for each medical service that is covered by )edicare. *rivate health insurance is available for people who wish to be covered for private hospital fees or ancillary services such as physiotherapy and optical appliances e.g. glasses, contact lenses etc!. Public health insurance )edicare govt health insurance partly funded by ta%able income. 4ey features include5 - 6niversality - 7-uity

- Accessibility - 7ase of use 123 rebate of consultation fee is refunded Private Health insurance 8&F )9F $0)A

These are *8II( to encourage membership payed in : ways - 'overnment subsidy - 0ebate through ta%ation Introduction of )edicare in ;<1= # membership funds for private health insurance decreased. It has continued to drop over time :/// # 'ovt introduction encouraging people to ta"e out private health insurance # lifetime rating

Alternative health care approaches

Australians spend over >; billion on therapies, services and products that are categorised as alternative or complementary therapies. )any of these techni-ues have a long history of use throughout the world. Traditional medicine refers to the ways of protecting and restoring health that e%isted before the arrival of modern medicine. )any alternative therapies have developed from these traditional practices. (ome alternative therapies are also referred to as complementary therapies, as they do not discard modern medicine in the treatment regime. The therapies are used in con,unction with modern medicine to treat a variety of illnesses and conditions, e.g. acupuncture and osteopathy. ?hilst there is no -uestion that modern medicine has saved lives and is necessary in emergency situations, there is a much greater community interest in and use of a range of alternative health care approaches. )any health insurance companies now provide health cover for some alternative health care services.

9espite growing popularity, some alternative health care approaches appear to have little scientific proof that they wor". For this reason many medical practitioners oppose these approaches. &onsumers may also be susceptible to unproven, fraudulently mar"eted alternative health care products and treatments. This may mean that valuable time and money is wasted on treatments before traditional methods are sought. Range of Health available 8omeopathy Iridology Aromatherapy 0efle%ology &hiropractic 8erbal 0emedies Acupuncture

(ome -uestions to consider when choosing this type of services and treatment potential side effects +est possibility of success with least ris" Is the professional registered &ost involved ?ritten literature available 0ecovery time