
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Walker, Agnes E 
A1  - Percival, Richard 
A1  - Thurecht, Linc 
A1  - Pearse, Jim 
T1  - Public policy and private health insurance: distributional impact on public and private hospital usage
JF  - Australian Health Review
JO  - Aust. Health Review
Y1  - 2007
VL  - 31
IS  - 2
SP  - 305
EP  - 314
KW  - 
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1071/AH070305 
N2  - Objective: To study the effectiveness of recent private health insurance (PHI) reforms, in particular the 30% rebate and Lifetime Health Cover, in terms of their stated aim of reducing the load on public hospitals. Methods: Combines the use of two new projection models ? ?Health Insurance? (PHI) and ?New South Wales Hospitals? that use public and private hospital inpatient data from 1996?97 to 1999?2000, and NSW population and private health insurance coverage statistics. Results: With the PHI reforms 15% fewer individuals would use public hospitals in 2010 than without these reforms (around 18% fewer among the 40% most affluent Australians and 9% among the 40% least affluent). Lower public hospital usage would mainly be due to Lifetime Health Cover. Conclusion: If the PHI reforms remain in place, in 2010 a significant proportion of hospital use would be redirected away from the public sector and towards the private sector, with the shift being greatest among better-off Australians. 
ER  -

