AMA Submission to the Senate Community Affairs Committee on the Private Health Insurance Bill 2006 (provisions) and related Bills.
The AMA believes that the funding arrangements underpinning the provisions of medical and hospital care in Australia need adjustment as treatment options evolve. Existing arrangements, designed in the decades following the Second World War, support a high quality, affordable health system. These comprise three separate components: medical insurance provided through the Commonwealth's Medicare monopoly, free public hospital treatment provided by the States and funded in part by the Commonwealth and private hospital care funded largely through private insurance.
The AMA believes that the funding arrangements underpinning the provisions of medical and hospital care in Australia need adjustment as treatment options evolve. Existing arrangements, designed in the decades following the Second World War, support a high quality, affordable health system. These comprise three separate components: medical insurance provided through the Commonwealth's Medicare monopoly, free public hospital treatment provided by the States and funded in part by the Commonwealth and private hospital care funded largely through private insurance.