10.4225/03/59389aafe1c5e
Richardson, Jeff
Jeff
Richardson
Medicare: Where are we? Where are we Going?
Monash University
2017
monash:2655
1993
1959.1/2655
2017-06-08 00:30:38
Journal contribution
https://bridges.monash.edu/articles/journal_contribution/Medicare_Where_are_we_Where_are_we_Going_/5089975
The Medicare debate is often dominated by relatively short run issues which reflect the immediate interests of the major players: the government, doctors, private health funds, and hospitals. When Medicare is placed in a broader, international perspective there is little doubt that it is a good scheme. Its most obvious weakness, the instability of private health insurance, may lead to substantial structural change but this is not inevitable. In the very long run there are some more serious obstacles that the health system, in whatever form, may encounter and these may result in the need for some ethically difficult decisions concerning the equitable treatment of the population.