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The entanglement of central and state involvement in healthcare has led to a highly fragmented healthcare system. It has been referred to as “too complex for patients” and “difficult to navigate”. The public and private health services offered also add to the systems complexity.

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Australians ranked second-best in the world for quality of life in a UN Study.

Life expectancy in Australia ranks 3rd in OECD countries. For males life expectancy at birth is 81 and,  females 85.

The gross national income per capita also ranks higher in Australia than other countries at $46,727.

Australia placed 2nd in quality of care in an OECD study.

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Indigenous People's Access to Healthcare

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Indigenous People's Access to Healthcare

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Indigenous people in Australia have less healthcare access. As a result, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people typically die at much younger ages than other Australians and are more likely to experience disability and reduced quality of life because of ill health. These people are also more than two times as likely to be hospitalized than other Australians but, less likely to undergo a procedure when in the hospital. In December 2009 the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare declared  Indigenous children were also likely to than their non-indigenous counterparts to be fully immunize at 1, 2, and 5 years of age.

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Medicare will reimburse 100% of the MBS fee for a general practitioner and, 85% of the fee for a specialist.

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme provides subsidized prescription drugs to Australians.

Mental health services, dental, health promotion, school health and community health programs are also provided and covered by Medicare.

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Australia is a constitutional monarchy with representative democracy. The Commonwealth government and the individual states and territories make up the powers in Australia. The commonwealth government finances a majority of the healthcare services and is therefore has the greatest control over healthcare. The Commonwealth government contributed about 42% of funding to health expenditures and the state and territory governments funded 27%. Australia spends about 10% of its GDP on health expenditures. In Australia hospital services are provided by both public and private hospitals. The government owns and operates public hospitals.

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In 1974, Medibank was the first universal healthcare system implemented in Australia. Changes and improvements were made to the Medibank system which led to Medibank officially becoming Medicare in 1984. Medicare entitles every Australian resident to free treatment in a public hospital as a public patient.  Those eligible to receive Medicare in Australia are issued a Medicare card.