Can you afford Australia’s health care system?
A new report has revealed Australia’s health care system could be in danger of becoming “too expensive” for patients to afford quality care when they need it most.
The Commonwealth Fund compared 11 developed nations' health care systems and Australia ranked fourth overall behind the UK (first), Switzerland (second) and Sweden (third).
Despite Australia’s ranking, the report showed Australia has dropped two spots over the past decade, having been placed second overall in 2004.
When compared to the 10 other counties studied in the report — Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US — Australia performed strongly in quality of care, but fell down on cost related issues.
Access relates to whether patients can obtain affordable care and receive attention in a timely manner. The survey examined whether patients were able to afford necessary care and whether they had serious problems paying medical bills.
Australia ranked second last when it came to out of pocket medical expenses, with 25% of Australians paying upwards of $1,000 in the past year. America was ranked as the worst.
According to the report, 16% of Australians did not fill a prescription, skipped a recommended medical test or treatment, or decided against seeing a doctor in the past year because the cost was prohibitive.
Despite this, Australia ranked highly on the criteria of quality care — second overall behind the UK — which reportedly showed that Australia’s health system is, on the whole, effective, safe, coordinated and patient centred.
Do you think Australia’s healthcare system is affordable? Share your concerns for the future.
