The Importance Of A Healthy Nation Australia Needs A Strong And Viable Health System

The Australian nation research priority goal of promoting and maintaining good health specifically the areas of preventative healthcare and strengthening Australia’s social and economic fabric.

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.

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.

As a people, our rate of chronic disease is still 2.5 times higher than that of other Australians, and Indigenous people in this country die 15 to 20 years younger than those in mainstream Australia. More than half of

Health care expenditures is an increasing proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries as its share in GDP increased by an average of nearly 2 percent annually in last 40 years. Health care expenditures in the US increased 6.2 on average annually between 1991 and 2011. Health care spending consisted 17.9 percent of GDP in the US in 2011.

The Australian population currently exceeds 20 million, with most of the population located primarily in the cities and along the coast; it also spreads to rural and remote indigenous communities. The Australian Government spends in excess of 66 billion dollars per year on health care, averaging out to approx $3,300 per person. (Medicare Australia 2009)

“The Australian health care system is a highly functioning and accessible system based on universal principles of access and equity”.

A key question from policymakers is why spending on health care consistently rises more rapidly than spending on other goods and services. One of the studies3 concluded that approximately 63% of the rise in real per capita

Health care costs have been rising for several years. Expenditures in the United States on health care surpassed $2.3 trillion in 2008, more than three times the

Australia’s wealthy economy conveys advanced, up to date medical and surgical technology, whereas Portugal’s technology has not been updated since 1988. Furthermore, Australia has more hospitals, 741 public and 525 private compared to Portugal’s 89 public and 82 private hospitals. With Australia’s advanced technology and abundance of hospitals, comes a greater life expectancy of 83 for females and 78 for males compared to Portugal’s life expectancy of 78.2.

Healthcare spending growth rate trends show astounding estimates. Since 1960, spending has risen from $27 billion ($143 per capita, 5.1% pf GDP) to amazing $1,678.9 billion ($5,670 per capita, 15.3% of GDP, 2003 data) (HHS, 2005). Recent research estimated that by 2013, healthcare spending will be as high as 18.4% of the Growth Domestic Product. It is important to note that the gradual move from hospital to ambulatory setting has resulted in much higher spending on outpatient hospital services and prescription drugs. The spending growth for these two trends is much higher than the overall healthcare cost growth, which, in fact, increases faster than such important economic indicators as GDP growth, inflation growth, and population growth rates.

The majority of funding for medical technology and advancements comes from government programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance companies. The National Health Expenditure, within the last fifty years has leapt from $147 per capita in 1960 to $8, 953 in 2012. The portion of the GDP that

According the Department of Health and Human Services, total health care spending in the U.S. reached $2.3 trillion in 2008, or $7,681 per person. As a share of GDP, healthcare expenditures set a new record of 16.2 percent. That’s double the 8.1 percent share of GDP in 1975, and it is triple the 5.2 percent share of GDP in 1960. (Perry, 2010) Last year in 2012, total U.S. health care spending hit $2.807 trillion, or $8,948 per person. (Geisel, 2013) Its rate of increase has been relatively low since 2009, at

Australia is one of the developed countries that have a growing ageing population, and this has a decided impact on the Australian Health System and Services, which is in fact expected to increase in the future. "...the increase in certain risk factors and the prolonging of life due to improvements in medical interventions, the prevalence of chronic disease is expected to increase in the future (Key indicators of progress for chronic disease and associated determinants, 2011, p. 1). An alarming statistic that should be taken into account is that, "...it is estimated that chronic diseases currently account for 70% of the total burden of ill health in Australia, as measured by disability-adjusted life-years, and this is expected to increase to 80%

In recent history the Australian population has undeniably seen a massive influx of obesity and obesity related illnesses. In fact during 2011/12 it was found that more than one in four adult Australians were classified as being Obese (Heart Foundation). Obesity is a known catalyst that directly leads to the development of several severe health conditions such as type-2 diabetes as well as multiple forms of cancer and numerous heart conditions. If Obesity levels decrease in the population it is a fact that the prevalance of these conditions will also decline accordingly.