The Howard government promised to rise in the private health care rebate from 30% to 35% for people over 65 and 40% for people over 70. However between 2001 and 2004 there has been a decrease in private health insurance for people under 55 by 4.8%, while people over 55 have increased 13.7%. Prices for

The coalition’s introduced a 30% private health insurance rebate, costing $2.5 billion per annum. This policy favours urban centres as rural areas have less private hospitals; less money from the rebate going to them, on a per capita bias; and will be affected by the yearly rise in prices after the age of 30. As

Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme uses economic evaluations on the price of drugs. The US equivalent, the Federal Supply Schedule does not use such pricing references. As a result the most prescribed pharmaceutical drugs in the US can be between 79% and 306% more expensive than in Australia.

This piece uses three main statistics, to come to the conclusion that 1/3 of Australian adults have a drug dependency. Firstly The National Health Survey found that 18.1% of people have had medication in the past fortnight for mental health reasons; secondly that when coupled with the amount of Australians who partake in risky alcohol

Examines a possible trade-off the Australian Government might be tempted to make in order to achieve a Free Trade Agreement with the US.

High-income earners over $50,000 for individuals and $100, 000 for families pay a Medicare Levy Surcharge of 1 %( $500 and $1000 respectively). High-income earners can be exempted from the surcharge if they have private insurance, insurance companies exploit this and provide policies with annual costs under the respective $500 and $1000. The insurance policies

A report last year by the Allen Consulting Group has played a pivotal role in reinforcing perceptions that cutting greenhouse gases would result in large economic costs and extensive job losses, especially in regional and rural Australia. The first part of this paper exposes a number of serious errors in the Allen Consulting report on

This paper documents the development of the vertical and horizontal integration of the healthcare services sector. It argues that in the Australian context, the private (including the corporate) provision and ownership of health service facilities is more costly than public provision. The paper also demonstrates that, contrary to popular belief, competition does not necessarily benefit

This paper shows that instead of encouraging private provision, concessions for private health insurance have been a financial windfall for wealthy households. The existing cash incentives and tax rebates for private health insurance are in urgent need of reform.

This study considers the rationale for estimating tax expenditures, and the conceptual basis for measurement. It assesses the current approach to accounting for the surcharge in the TES against international practice and against the stated aims of tax expenditure reporting in Australia.

This study breaks new ground by examining how the benefits of tax concessions for health expenditures, such as the rebate for health insurance, have been distributed amongst taxpayer income groups. It shows for the first time the value of the tax relief arising from the Medicare levy surcharge for those with private health insurance.

This discussion paper is part of the Australia Institute’s work program on measuring quality of life. The Institute has formed a collaborative partnership with Newcastle City Council to build an indicator series against which the Newcastle community’s progress towards sustainability can be measured.

The Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL) was sold in 1994 by the Commonwealth and became a privately owned company, tasked with the processing of blood. Since its privatisation it has been accused of allowing hepatitis-C and CJD to infect the blood. This document focuses on the $400 million given to CSL by the Commonwealth between 1994

This study comprises a comprehensive assessment of public spending on education, employment, health and housing services for indigenous Australians compared with non-indigenous Australians. It shows that, contrary to claims made recently, public spending on programs for indigenous people is not excessive, and the advantages indigenous people gain from this expenditure are minuscule compared with the