Australians like to think that we live in a very equal society – where because of Medicare, unlike in the USA, wherever you live you can expect the same level of healthcare.  Unfortunately the data shows the lie to this belief.

Healthcare should be universal, but your postcode has a big impact on life expectancy. People who live in inner metropolitan electorates (the inner parts of Australia’s capital cities) live almost a year (0.8) longer than people in outer metropolitan electorates (the edges of Australia’s capital cities).

But life expectancy falls even more for people who live in electorates outside the capital cities. In electorates where the majority of people live in major regional cities life expectancy falls by more than a year (1.1) compared with outer metro electorates. In rural electorates the results are even worse. Almost half a year (0.4) lower than provincial electorates.

This means that those in inner metro electorates can expect to live on average 2.3 years longer than there fellow Australians in rural electorates.

But this is more than just about the distance from healthcare services. This is about rich and poor. In South Australia the relatively wealthy rural electorate of Mayo has an average life expectancy of 84.5 years, while the relatively poor outer metro electorate of Spence has a life expectancy 4 years lower than that at 80.5 years.

It is even worse for indigenous Australians. The Northern Territory electorate of Lingiari, which has the highest proportion of indigenous Australians, has the lowest average life expectancy at just 75.5 years.

All Australians deserve access to high quality healthcare regardless of where they live or how much they have.