The Latest Breaking News from Yuting Zhang

Government incentives continue to drive people to take out cover merely to avoid tax penalties

Seeing a private specialist increasingly comes with massive gap payments. On average, out-of-pocket fees to see a specialist amount to about $300 a year. But many spend hundreds on each appointment.

In an election promise gone under the radar, the federal government announced it would subsidise complementary health treatments but how effective are they?

Exclusive: Report finds rebates not keeping up with specialist fee rises and experts say soaring number of people putting off care is easy to understand

Toowong Private Hospital in Brisbane is the latest hospital to succumb to financial pressures and will close its doors next week. The industry association attributes the psychiatric hospital’s closure to insufficient payments from and delayed funding negotiations with private insurers.

Seeing a medical specialist can leave you with significant out-of-pocket costs. Yet political parties have not adequately addressed this in their pre-election bids.

Anyone who needs to make their first appointment with a psychiatrist may expect a bit of a wait. Our new research shows Australians are waiting an average 77 days for this initial appointment. But some were waiting for at least eight months.

Unaffordable GP visits has become a pressing issue amid the increasing cost-of-living crisis. About 30% of Australians delayed or didn’t see a GP in 2023–24.

Australia’s second-largest private health insurer, Bupa, has recently started offering its members three free GP telehealth consultations a year. This follows other insurers such as nib offering its members digital GP consults, for things like prescriptions and medical certificates, for a fee.