ReviewThe Medical journal of Australia2023
Challenges for Medicare and universal health care in Australia since 2000.
Review in The Medical journal of Australia, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Achieving effective medicines governance: guiding principles for the roles and responsibilities of Medicines and Therapeutics Committees in Australian hospitals.Internal medicine journal · 2026Guideline
- Ten-Year Public Expenditure Savings Associated with TNF Inhibitor Biosimilars under Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · 2026Article
- Primary Health Care Services and Continuity of Care Are Associated With Better Health Outcomes in the Older Population.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2026Article
- Reorienting Allied Health Into Community-Based Care for People Experiencing Trauma and Social Disadvantage.The Medical journal of Australia · 2026Article
- Prescribing cascades potentially associated with harms before and after transition to long-term care facilities.Age and ageing · 2026Article
- Maternal exposure to high ambient temperature and risk of stillbirth in South Australia: a statewide cohort study, 2000-2021.International journal of biometeorology · 2026Article
- Two decades of Medicare: An updated review of Medicare-subsidised dietetics services in Australia.Nutrition & dietetics : the journal of the Dietitians Association of Australia · 2026Observational
- Oral Anticoagulant Use Among Older Adults in Long-Term Care Facilities: Trends Over Time and Impact of High-Risk Comorbidities.Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety · 2026Article
- Stakeholder Perspectives on Ear and Hearing Health Service Provision for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children.The Australian journal of rural health · 2026Article
- Where you live matters: socioeconomic disparities in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest incidence and survival in Western Australia - A population-based cohort study.Resuscitation plus · 2026Article
- Australia's Better Access initiative: A survey of provider and referrer views.The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry · 2026Article
- Stakeholders' views on the development and adoption of health policies related to pharmacist scope of practice and the pharmacy practice environment in Australia.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2026Article
- Nursing Outside the Lines: Identity, Policy, and the Rise of Gig Economy Nursing.Journal of nursing management · 2026Article
- Advancing implementation of shared care for cancer survivors using a systems thinking approach (the SEAMLESS study).Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2025Article
- Real-World Outcomes of Ipilimumab Plus Nivolumab for Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma: A National Population-Based Cohort Study.Targeted oncology · 2025Article
- Exploring the perspectives of young adults on mental healthcare and systemic health, education, and social challenges in Australia: a qualitative study.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Co-Production, Co-Creation and Co-Design in Primary Health Care: A Scoping Review of Design, Implementation, Impact and Sustainability.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2025Article
- Treatment Persistence in Rheumatoid Arthritis Before and After Etanercept Biosimilar Introduction: A Nationwide Australian Real-World Study.Pharmaceutical medicine · 2025Article
- Real-World Outcomes of Pembrolizumab in Advanced Melanoma by Age and Sex: A National Population-Based Study.Targeted oncology · 2025Article
- Australian dental practitioner attitudes to expanding Medicare to include more dental services.Australian dental journal · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo identify the financing and policy challenges for Medicare and universal health care in Australia, as well as opportunities for whole-of-system strengthening. STUDY
designReview of publications on Medicare, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, and the universal health care system in Australia published 1 January 2000 - 14 August 2021 that reported quantitative or qualitative research or data analyses, and of opinion articles, debates, commentaries, editorials, perspectives, and news reports on the Australian health care system published 1 January 2015 - 14 August 2021. Program-, intervention- or provider-specific articles, and publications regarding groups not fully covered by Medicare (eg, asylum seekers, prisoners) were excluded. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE Complete, the Health Policy Reference Centre, and Global Health databases (all via EBSCO); the Analysis & Policy Observatory, the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet, the Australian Public Affairs Information Service, Google, Google Scholar, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) websites.
resultsThe problems covered by the 76 articles included in our review could be grouped under seven major themes: fragmentation of health care and lack of integrated health financing, access of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to health services and essential medications, reform proposals for the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the burden of out-of-pocket costs, inequity, public subsidies for private health insurance, and other challenges for the Australian universal health care system.
conclusionsA number of challenges threaten the sustainability and equity of the universal health care system in Australia. As the piecemeal reforms of the past twenty years have been inadequate for meeting these challenges, more effective, coordinated approaches are needed to improve and secure the universality of public health care in Australia.
Indexed as
Identifiers
36739106What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.