Comparative Analysis of Public and Private Healthcare Systems in Australia HCP4025

1. Introduction:

The purpose of this study is to conduct a comparative analysis of the public and private healthcare systems of Australia, based on different parameters namely structure, eligibility criteria, funding, benefits and the ways private health systems help the public health systems. Initially, this report will precisely define both the systems, followed by analyzing them based on eligibility, funding and benefits, and will conclude by understanding the interplay of both the systems.

The public healthcare system of Australia is known as Medicare, and it consists of three major components namely public hospitals, medicines and medical services (The Australian Health System, n.d.). The private healthcare system operates independently of the government and includes private hospitals, private health insurers and private healthcare professionals. It also covers those domains of the healthcare system which are not included in Medicare, namely ambulance services, ophthalmologists, dentists and natural therapies (Australian Healthcare System - IMAN Australian Health Plans, n.d.).

2.Eligibility and Funding

2.1 Eligibility

The enrolment criteria for availing free healthcare services under Medicare, includes all permanent citizens of Australia and New Zealand, permanent residents and visitors from the member countries accepting the reciprocal health agreement (Queensland, 2023). The accessibility of private healthcare systems, on the other hand, is open to anyone willing to buy private health insurance. Though, it is not a necessity, but Australian citizens prefer obtaining private health insurances for increased coverage of healthcare services (About Private Health Insurance, n.d.).

2.2 Funding

The federal government of Australia provides funding for medical services and prescribed medicines through Medicare benefit scheme and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme respectively (Angeles et al., 2023). The revenue for private healthcare is obtained from the medical charges paid by the private patients. The government offers a tax rebate for availing private health insurance, varying from 8.5% to 33.9?pending upon the age and income (Australia, n.d.).

3. Benefits of both the systems

3.1 Benefits of Public Health systems

Medicare, being a universal public health program, ensures free medical services to the Australian citizens. It has a vast coverage, starting from medical services in hospitals to diagnostic and pathological tests. The implementation of the reciprocal health agreement offers subsidized medical services to citizens of the member countries visiting Australia (What Medicare Covers, n.d.).

3.2 Benefits of Private Health Systems

Private Health Systems cover the unaddressed areas of Medicare such as dental services, physiotherapy, etc. It provides relaxation from paying Medicare levy surcharge for private healthcare insurance buyers. It offers a tax rebate to citizens with low-income levels. Also, a private patient gets access to high quality medical services more quickly than a public health patient (Ghasemi et al., 2022).

3.3 How the Private Health System helps the Public Health System.

The private healthcare companies manage the public hospitals on a contract basis. Some private healthcare companies receive franchise for operating a public hospital during the contract period (Da Silva et al., 2022). In addition, BOOT arrangements are implemented where private hospitals provide the financial support for developing the infrastructure of a public hospital and in turn receive revenue from the state government (Wang et al., 2021).

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