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healthcare
National affairs
Mental health care: two steps forward, but a risk of one step back
Lesley Russell
1 March 2017
The federal government’s plan for “stepped care” needs fine-tuning
National affairs
Health and healthcare: what Greg Hunt must do
Lesley Russell
23 January 2017
A strong minister will look beyond doctors and hospitals to improve Australians’ health
International
Making America sick again
Lesley Russell
9 January 2017
As Republicans splinter and the real world intrudes, abolishing Obamacare is looking more difficult by the day
Essays & reportage
Getting the cure
Julie Shiels
1 December 2016
In a world-leading public health measure, highly effective anti-virals have been made available to treat Hepatitis C under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
Podcasts
In Melbourne, progress on chronic fatigue
Peter Clarke
24 November 2016
Peter Clarke
talks to Bio21 researcher
Chris Armstrong
about new research that challenges popular views of this enigmatic illness
National affairs
Time’s up for ageing alarmists
John Quiggin
4 October 2016
Mistaken fears about an “ageing population” have stopped us from considering how best to respond to the prospect of longer, healthier lives
National affairs
In search of the “sensible centre”
Tim Colebatch
2 September 2016
What if we took the leaders at their word?
Tim Colebatch
looks at the initiatives that might result
National affairs
Home is where the health is
Lesley Russell
5 August 2016
More consultation, more investment and a wider view of healthcare needs – these are the necessary elements of an innovative scheme that could transform patient care, writes…
National affairs
Reshaping Medicare
Hal Swerissen & Stephen Duckett
8 July 2016
The election campaign showed that Medicare has wide support, write
Hal Swerissen
and
Stephen Duckett
. But that doesn’t mean the scheme should stand still
National affairs
Chequered history, uncertain future: Medicare and the election
Lesley Russell
28 June 2016
To understand what’s at stake, we need to recall how successive governments have treated the scheme, argues
Lesley Russell
Essays & reportage
The right to be old
Melanie Joosten
17 June 2016
Ageing needs to be treated as a state of living rather than failing, argues
Melanie Joosten
in this extract from her new book
National affairs
Chill winds for doctors, and their patients
Stephen Duckett
20 May 2016
A flat economy has stopped the Medicare freeze from becoming a major headache for the Coalition, says
Stephen Duckett
. But continuing to hold down the rebate…
Essays & reportage
Making medicine count
Frank Bowden
13 April 2016
Working out whether a treatment works, and for how many people, is trickier than it sounds, writes
Frank Bowden
. Here’s how you should go about doing it
Essays & reportage
Red spot specials: the fall and rise of Australian measles
Frank Bowden
11 March 2016
Vaccination is not only justified by self-interest. It is also an act of altruism
National affairs
Reforming healthcare: an early signpost
Stephen Duckett
2 December 2015
The government’s response to the mental health review points to the likely direction of broader healthcare reform, writes
Stephen Duckett
National affairs
Private health insurance: the unanswered questions
Lesley Russell
13 November 2015
Nervousness about the end point of the federal government’s review of private health insurance is entirely justified, writes
Lesley Russell
International
Another near-death experience survived, but Obamacare’s immortality is still not guaranteed
Lesley Russell
29 June 2015
The US Supreme Court annoyed conservatives twice last week, fuelling an even more divisive presidential race, writes
Lesley Russell
From the archive
What matters in the end
Frank Bowden
17 December 2014
Atul Gawande has written an important book about the limits of medicine
Books & arts
Pregnancy: guidelines and timelines
Jacinta Halloran
6 November 2014
Two accounts of getting, and being, pregnant tell only part of the story about conception and childbirth
Books & arts
Buying and selling healthcare
Lesley Russell
6 November 2014
Adam Reich vividly describes the way different kinds of hospitals work in the United States, writes
Lesley Russell
. But what happened to the patients?
National affairs
Healthcare and the limits of competition
Lesley Russell
26 September 2014
Lesley Russell
looks at what the draft recommendations of the competition policy review mean for health policy and services
Essays & reportage
Natural born killers
Frank Bowden
27 August 2014
With one-in-two people dying within days of becoming ill, it’s little wonder that Ebola causes panic. But the real threat can only be assessed if we understand the history…
Books & arts
Alzheimer unease
David Le Couteur
28 July 2014
Why do so many dementia researchers hold to a single theory so fervently? An unsettling new book throws light on entrenched beliefs, writes
David Le Couteur
National affairs
Back to the future with antibiotic resistance
Chris Del Mar
17 July 2014
The evidence has been clear for years: without a cutback in the use of antibiotics, healthcare faces major disruption
Books & arts
The surgeon as bad-tempered hero
Frank Bowden
20 June 2014
A physician decodes an unsettling memoir of life in and beyond the operating theatre
Essays & reportage
Eleven grams of trouble
Frank Bowden
18 March 2014
Screening for cervical cancer saves lives every day, so surely men should be screened for prostate cancer? Unfortunately it’s a bit more complicated than that, writes…
Books & arts
What it feels like to be a doctor
Frank Bowden
24 February 2014
We need our doctors to
feel
, writes
Frank Bowden
, but not so much that they stop thinking
Books & arts
A short look at Medicare’s long history
Gwendolyn Gray Jamieson
20 February 2014
Gwendolyn Gray Jamieson
reviews an account of the genesis and chequered career of Labor’s national health insurance scheme
International
Obamacare’s testing year ahead
Lesley Russell
7 January 2014
Americans see Obamacare as either the president’s greatest achievement or his biggest failure, writes
Lesley Russell
. But the signs are growing that its success…
National affairs
Small-target health policy gets off to a shaky start
Lesley Russell
17 September 2013
The new government’s aged-care decisions suggest it will prioritise providers over consumers, writes
Lesley Russell
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