30 April 2019 - The Grattan Institute's Stephen Duckett argues that private health cover is in a "death spiral" of too few young members supporting rising numbers of older ones. 

But he omitted one thing. The changes as Baby Boomers reach the age of "peak health care" are not just hitting private health insurance, but also the Medicare system as a whole.

Times have changed and community expectations are high. We are not living in the 1970s any more. People have stopped smoking, are starting their families later, living until their 90s or even longer, and cancer is becoming a mostly chronic disease.

In the 1970s, there were 10 working people supporting every one dependent on the health and welfare system. Today there are five, and by 2040 there will be three. Health fund premiums are growing on average at 3.25 per cent per annum, but Commonwealth funding to public hospitals is growing at 6.5 per cent and this will increase again should there be a change in government. Health fund premium increases are the canary in the coal mine as a direct price signal hitting hip pockets at the same time each year.

Read Australian Financial Review article