AMA response to private health sector reform consultation paper 1

Private health plays a critical role in our health system, with private hospitals covering more than 40 per cent of all hospital admissions, conducting more than two-thirds of planned surgeries and delivering around 25 per cent of babies who are born in hospital in Australia. Private healthcare is a vital part of our health system, but it was never intended to be the only option. It exists to provide choice, not to compensate for a public system that cannot cope. Decades of underfunding of the public hospital system, the almost complete absence of public specialist outpatient clinics in some states and increasing wait times for surgery in the public system mean that many patients have no option but to turn to private specialist treatment. The difficulty is that now, when many patients turn to the private health system for timely care, there is no private hospital option within reasonable driving distance of their residence.