Medical costs are a great worry to retirees, especially those facing failing health. CEO Leanne Wells looks at the reality of health spending in retirement and whether there is cause for concern.

The success of modern medicine is popularly seen in terms of hospitals and life-saving surgery. That focus obscures the potential of a different response to much of the ill health in contemporary society. It’s patient-centred integrated health care. In a refreshing acknowledgement, the Treasurer, Scott Morrison, has strongly supported the value this model offers to the health system and the economy. The patient-centred approach sounds straightforward, even prosaic, hardly the heroic life-saving surgery we associate with hospitals, yet the need for integrated care grows each year, along with the burgeoning levels of expenditure directed to our hospitals.

private health insurance. For health fund members baffled about the real impact of the Government’s private insurance reform plan, there was one indicator immediately available.

This article first appeared on Medical Observer, to read the original click here . Dr Richard Zhu’s pioneering SeekMedi website, listing specialist fees, is a breakthrough. While coverage is not nationwide and, presumably, some specialists are yet to be included, it’s a breakthrough in terms of...

With consumer health leaders this week putting the case to Health Minister Greg Hunt for consumer-centred primary care, we have invited two advocates of primary health reform - consumer Geoff Bartle and GP Wally Jammal - to respond to our questions about the big challenges for primary health care.

The transformation of big health funds into for-profit business enterprises sheltered by significant government subsidy and regulations has failed to prompt a complementary response from federal governments, Coalition or Labor, to even the playing field for consumers.

The powerful lobby group has discouraged members to participate in a government survey. This lack of transparency is troubling for consumers and taxpayers.

The five compacts the Health Minister, Greg Hunt, has agreed with health organisations may deliver benefits for health providers and certainty for the medicines industry and community pharmacy sector. But these compacts announced in the federal Budget also raise important questions about the overall benefit for consumers. What will the compacts do for the most pressing health challenges facing Australia: obesity and the care of the growing number of Australians with chronic and complex care needs? At a time when medical knowledge and technology promise better outcomes through more cohesive, integrated health care, the risk is that bi-lateral compacts will further fragment and silo health care.