Free Health Insurance News
Hospital approach is sound enough, but devil is in detail
Wednesday March 24, 2010
The government is on the right track but some questions remain.Greens' last-ditch push for health cash
Monday February 22, 2010
A LAST-minute attempt by the Greens to push a private health insurance rebate bill through in return for mental health funding appears to have failed, after the Coalition and cross-bench senators said they would vote against the bill, regardless.Defeat of health rebate to provide early election trigger
Monday February 22, 2010
The federal government appears likely to achieve a trigger for a double-dissolution with the defeat of its private health insurance rebate bill.New poll trigger looms
Monday February 22, 2010
THE federal government is on the brink of achieving a second trigger for a double-dissolution election, but faces pressure on multiple fronts as Parliament resumes today.ROXON TAKES TOUGH LINE OVER HEALTH FUND PREMIUM RISES
Friday February 19, 2010
THE Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, is believed to have knocked back the initial bids of 17 health funds for premium increases, but warned customers not to expect good news.GOING TO HOSPITAL: PERSONAL TALES OF WOE, AND THANKS
Monday December 7, 2009
JAMES, who cut his hand with a chainsaw, says he ended up spending 29 hours in the emergency department at Dubbo Base Hospital and received just one sandwich in that time.Tales from front line of Australian suffering
Monday December 7, 2009
JANNE relates how she ended up $4000 in debt after being diagnosed with breast cancer and choosing to use her private health insurance to cover hospital and surgeon's bills.Playing centre suits Rudd, not Obama
Wednesday August 26, 2009
Australia and the US have seemed like Siamese twins this year. With the rise of the centre-left against disarray on the right, proclaiming Afghanistan as "the right war", and leading the fiscal stimulus charge against the global financial crisis, the parallels have been striking.Pope's worthy plea up against market forces
Tuesday July 14, 2009
Economics and morality can co-exist if the world truly wants it.Break the banks, for the good of the people
Wednesday June 10, 2009
Bailing out the big US banks has done nothing to improve them, writes Joseph Stiglitz.Health, Wealth And Public Hospitals
Wednesday December 31, 2008
THE economist Milton Friedman once argued that licensing of medical practitioners was unnecessary. The patients of good doctors would live, while those of bad ones would die. The market would weed out incompetent physicians. The Howard government never ventured that far down the ideological track on health, but it did use the tax system to force many Australians into private health insurance. The revelation that private hospitals now undertake most of the surgery performed in Australia is a ...Medicare Surcharge
Saturday September 27, 2008
AUSTRALIAN Governments just can't seem to figure out what to do about private health insurance. The pendulum of assistance for the industry swings back and forth as different views prevail in political parties and the bureaucracy.Health Fund Price Rises
Saturday March 8, 2008
AFTER years in opposition railing against the Coalition's tolerance of hefty annual increases in private health premiums, the new federal Labor Government has found itself having to do precisely the same. When the health funds fronted up with their latest log of claims, Health Minister Nicola Roxon made a show of indignation and sent them back to sharpen their pencils. Some of them reduced their demands as a result. But despite the huffing and puffing, the private health industry has been granted ...Mixed Bag On Health For Young
Saturday February 2, 2008
HUNTER children are more likely to drink enough milk and get enough exercise than the state average, a NSW Health survey shows.Study Likely To Trigger Sale Of Medibank Private Health Insurance
Wednesday August 17, 2005
THE Federal Government looks set to sell health insurance giant Medibank Private, with Finance Minister Nick Minchin saying a sale could reduce premiums.Over 75s To Get A Free Health Pass
Thursday September 30, 2004
Patients aged 75 and over will be able to get a free hospital bed, public or private, "straight away", under a Labor plan promising the most dramatic expansion of Medicare in its 20-year history.Health Inspector
Saturday October 4, 2003
Settle private health insurance gripes, brush up on trendy vocabulary or see a new side to pollies. Maria Nguyen has the answers.