6 December 2017 - The number of privately insured patients having elective surgery in public hospitals is rising faster than the number of uninsured ­patients drawn from the same waiting lists, according to data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

While private patients have long been known to have a shorter wait for surgery in the public system, comparisons are often skewed by factors such as surgeons with separate surgery lists or differences between specialties.

In a report out today, the AIHW reveals the number of ­insurance-funded elective surgery cases admitted from public hospital waiting lists increased by 4% per annum, on average, in the three years to 2015-16. By comparison, the growth rate for public patients admitted from the same waiting lists was only 2.3% per annum.

Read The Australian article