Cost barriers to dental care are dooming many Australians to avoidable pain and poor health and the Australian Greens' policy to do more to remedy this plight is a welcome step, the Consumers Health Forum said today. “Dental care should be part of Medicare just as the mouth is an inseparable part...

Health consumers already paying out thousands of dollars a year in premiums may at last be able to check out what further out of pocket costs they face going to private specialists with the announcement of plans for an official website disclosing fee levels. “We support this first important step to...

Heart disease is a huge and often unrecognised problem for many Australians, and it is good news that both sides of politics today have announced their support for a comprehensive heart health check to be financed by Medicare. “Even though there is one case of heart attack or stroke occurring in...

The inclusion of the professional pharmacy organisation in negotiations for the community pharmacy agreement is a positive step and serves to highlight the need for consumers to be represented too, the Consumers Health Forum says. This week the Government has pledged that the Pharmaceutical Society...

The Consumers Health Forum welcomes Labor’s plan to establish a national health reform commission as a timely step towards improvement and innovation of Australia’s health system. “It is 35 years since the last big change, Medicare, and it is now well past time for a more contemporary Medicare to...

The Consumers Health Forum today launches a new portal, # BeHealthAware , to help people find the health information they seek. Modern health care involves more choice and complexity for consumers and patients than ever, the CEO of the Consumers Health Forum, Leanne Wells, says. “That’s why we have...