Australia 's Health Care System

The Australian healthcare system has been evolving since the beginning of the colonisation of Australia. Today, Australia has an extremely efficient healthcare system although it still has several issues. The influencing factors, structure, and current issues of the Australian healthcare system will be throughly discussed and explained in this essay.

Australia's human services framework is given by both private and government foundations. Medicare is the openly subsidized all inclusive social insurance framework in Australia and was established in 1984. While in 1978 Italy's legislature set up the SSN (servizio sanitario nazionale) which is the Italian adaptation of a national wellbeing administration. Australia's Medicare is subsidized halfway by a 2% toll (with exemptions for low salary workers), an extra demand of 1% is forced on high wage workers without private wellbeing protection. While Italy's SSN medicinal services spending is responsible for 9.2% of GDP in 2012 of this around 77% is open. Italy is positioned the second best social insurance framework on the planet after France.

al., 2011). Health service accessibility by individuals in rural and remote areas is a problem central to both countries. Reports indicate that compared with metropolitan populations, non-metropolitan populations, in both Australia and the UK, experience poor access to health services (Watt, Franks, Sheldon, 1994, p. 16). As in the primary care sector of the UK, majority of the doctors in Australia are self-employed and reimbursed on a fee-for-service approach (Gillies, 2003, p. 77). GP’s are the initial point of contact for patients in both Australia and the UK. Additional specialist medical services such as physiotherapy and optometry are only available when patients are provided with a formal referral from their GPs (Piterman, Koritsas, 2005). Although the NHS is similar to the Australian health system in certain ways, both systems also possess some differences.

In modern health care system, the intensity and complexity of work that it involves need a system that is well organized, have some control and is people centered. In Australia for instance, the current health care system need to incorporate some aspect of sociology in an attempt to achieve its goals. One such aspect is power in the system. Additionally, it is prudent to note how the hierarchy is essential in the Australian healthcare system. Additionally, it is important to discuss how power and hierarchy are intrinsic in health care system in Australia.

The following paper is based on the differences between two healthcare systems in two different countries, these systems are the Australian healthcare system which is Medicare, and England’s National health system which is known as the NHS.

The Australian health care system is a highly functioning and accessible system based on universal principles of access and equity. In this essay I will discuss the historical evolution and current structure of our health system, identifying current health service models of delivery and look at its strengths, weaknesses, policies and health priorities currently in Australia. I will discuss the roles of government and non-government health services in service provision and funding sources of Australian health. We will get a better insight of the role of standards for residential aged care and look into a broad range of professions that consumers may engage with in health service delivery, their roles and functions of each profession.

The healthcare system in Australia is complex involving many funders and healthcare providers. In 2011 to 2012 the health expenditure in Australia was estimated to have been $140.2 billion, which made up 9.5 percent of gross domestic product in that year (AIHW, 2013). Responsibilities are split between different levels of government, and between the government and non-government sectors. With non-government sources funding for about 30 percent of the total health expenditure each year (AIHW, 2013). Australians make their contribution to their healthcare system through taxes, including the Medicare levy, and through private financing such as private health insurance. Private health insurance in Australia is a voluntary facility for private funding of hospital care and ancillaries. Insurance funds may cover the costs of treatment for private patients in private or public hospitals and can include some services that Medicare does not cover. The Australian governments fund for almost 70 percent of the health expenditure each year (AIHW, 2013). The federal government contributes to approximately two-thirds, while State, Territory and local governments together contribute for the other one-third (AIWH, 2013). As a generalization the Australian government is primarily responsible for the funding of healthcare, through health insurance arrangements and direct payments to the state and territories, while state and territories are primarily responsible

The health care system varies from country to country although a factor they all have in common is that great measures of research are taken in order to find results and achieve a good health care system for the economy. Between Australia and japan, there are great initiatives taken to help in association to this, including economic, social and political circumstances, all influencing the way in which the countries health care system is shaped and run.

Medical dominance in Australia Within Australia, medicine has traditionally dominated every facet of health care delivery (Germov, 2002; Willis, 1989). The professional status that medicine holds in Australia has been gained by means of its historical and political advantages (Germov, 2002; Willis, 1989). Willis’s (1989) seminal work on medical dominance provides an extensive review of medical relationships and the power that medicine yields. Historically, in Australia, medicine gained its position of political and economic power through its relationship ARTICLE IN PRESS 1064 A. Kenny, S. Duckett / Social Science & Medicine 58 (2004) 1059–1073 with the state (Willis, 1989). The state was dependent on medicine for

The Federal Government became increasingly involved in health provision following the Second World War, with a focus on ensuring access and equity to health care. When Medicare was implemented in 1984, the Federal Government, States and Territories agreed to provide free health care for all Australians in all public hospitals.

This essay discusses the history and inception of the Australian Healthcare system, how it is funded through the Government and the public income. How and where healthcare is delivered and its effectiveness, including issues and priorities according to current healthcare policies and national standards.

An article by Al-sharqi in 2012 it discusses the health system developments in Australia. The Contemporary health system in Australia evolved over two stages that are outlined as follows: the period was characterized by the

Department of Health and Ageing in Australia has a range of responsibilities but all of these responsibilities aim to insure "Better

Key Historical, Key political and Key socio-cultural influence that have shaped healthcare access in contemporary Australian society.

The public sector contributed RM 22 514 mil while private sector contributed RM 19 795 mil of the total health expenditure. This number further claimed that the government still is the major source to finance the healthcare sector.