Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Australian Politics and Policy
Australia’s health
By world standards Australians enjoy good health, but so do those who live in
other high-income ‘developed’ countries. Australians’ life expectancy at birth, a key
indicator of a nation’s health, is close to the highest in the world. 5
An important factor contributing to Australia’s good health is its young
population. Most high-income countries have an aged population, but in Australia’s
case a sustained high rate of immigration has kept our population comparatively
young. In 2018 the median age of Australians was 39; by contrast the median
age of Italians, Japanese and Germans was above 45. 6 Our comparatively young
population has kept demand for expenditure on health care under control. Also,
because immigration policies are selective, immigrants tend to be healthier than the
Australian-born population.
Nationwide indicators such as life expectancy can mask significant variations
within population groups, however. Indicators of ‘disease burden’ show that people
living in non-metropolitan regions have significantly poorer health and die younger
than those in cities. Indigenous Australians have around 10 years lower life expectancy
than other Australians (although the gap is closing) and they experience high
rates of child mortality (twice the national average).
IntermsofhealthriskfactorsAustraliascoreswellonsmokingbutpoorlyon
obesity (28 per cent of Australians aged 15 and over are obese), and our alcohol
consumption is high by international standards. 7
Mental health has become an area of increasing policy concern in recent years.
According to the AIHW almost half of Australians between the ages of 16 and
85 ‘will experience a mental disorder such as depression, anxiety or substance use
disorder at some stage in their life’. 8
Mentalhealthdisorderstendtopeakinlateteenageyears,butforalmostall
otherconditionstheprevalenceofpoorhealthisstronglycorrelatedwithage.
Readers of this textbook are probably among those least likely to have more than
occasional first-hand experience with health care services. Figure 2 shows the
incidence of Medicare services (consultations with GPs and specialists, operations,
and certain services provided by other health professionals) by age.
Government involvement in health care
Within health portfolios governments’ main concerns are generally about the
funding of health care – either through public budgets (such as Australia’s
Medicare) or through private insurance, which is generally subject to regulation,
tax concessions or direct subsidies. Also in some cases, most notably state
5 OECD 2017.
6 World Population Review 2018.
7 AIHW 2018a.
8 AIHW 2018a, 83.
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