A large majority of those who participated in a recent Australia’s Health Panel survey have expressed concern at a range of climate change impacts on health and say the government is not doing enough to counter potential harms. The Australia’s Health Panel survey, established by the Consumers...

Australia should use social prescribing to counter rising chronic health problems, according to a new report from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and the Consumers Health Forum (CHF). Social prescribing involves the referral of patients to non-medical activities,...

The Federal Government must heed the call of its health insurance regulator and establish an independent review into private health insurance, the Consumers Health Forum says. Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority board member Geoff Summerhayes has made the call this week in a penetrating...

As so many Australians who have needed mental health care know, the ideal of universal access to the services they need is a fiction. The Productivity Commission’s draft report on mental health points to “a once in a generation opportunity to reform our mental health system”, the Consumers Health...

The battery of reviews into Australia’s health system currently underway indicate the Government recognises the need for real action and greater investment in health, but the next Federal Budget must show the Government is for real on health, the Consumers Health Forum says. Releasing CHF’s...

Australians’ views on the impact of climate change and health will be the subject of a new Australia’s Health Panel survey which launches today. “The survey on climate and health comes at a pivotal time given the bushfires that have hit so many communities hard,” the CEO of the Consumers Health...

The Medical Costs Finder website launched today is a disappointing first step towards the greater fees transparency so sadly lacking in Australia’s private medical arrangements, the Consumers Health Forum says. “But it is a start and we hope just the first step towards a system in which all doctors...

The fires and drought engulfing Australia have confronted Australians with the dire health consequences of climate change and the imperative for an urgent and credible response, the Consumers Health Forum and Climate and Health Alliance said today. “Millions of people have witnessed the direct...

Better use of existing funding, leveraging digital health, empowering consumers and the workforce are among the keys to thinking and acting differently on medicine safety. These were the themes resonating at a forum of stakeholders representing the breadth of health care, including government and...

The latest report from the Grattan Institute highlights the urgent need for a comprehensive independent review of private health insurance. “We welcome the report from the Grattan Institute as an important contribution to policy debate about how to ensure private health insurance could remain...