The Real Price of Health: Experiences of Out-of-Pocket Costs in Australia
This study will explore the challenges people experience in managing the affordability of certain health services or medicines.
Project status
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About
Despite Australia having a universal health insurance scheme, out-of-pocket (OOP) costs for healthcare and medicines remain relatively high. Individual Australians are the third largest contributor to healthcare financing in Australia behind federal, state and territory governments. Much of this spending is directed at general practice care, specialist outpatient services, pharmaceuticals, diagnostic imaging, pathology and allied health services. This has the potential to create barriers to access at the frontlines of the health system, where the greatest gains from prevention and early intervention can be sourced.
- Elucidate how OOP costs of healthcare and medicines are experienced by people with chronic illnesses on low, middle, and high incomes.
- Identify the priorities and preferences of people with chronic illnesses on low, middle and high incomes in relation to managing the OOP costs of healthcare and medicines.
- Examine and describe the process of consumer engagement in chronic disease research and develop resources to support collaboration between researchers and people living with chronic disease.
Funding
Project team
| Principle Investigator | Associate Researchers |
|---|---|
| Associate Professor Jane Desborough | Dr Danielle Butler |
| Professor Rosemary Korda | |
| Other Team Members | Ms Hse Di (Sadie) Law |
| Ms Kamania Butler (Lived experience expert) | Dr Anne Parkinson |
| Dr Vanessa Fanning (Lived experience expert) | Ms Shelley Wang |
| Ms Fiona Hodson (Chronic Pain Australia) | |
| Dr Elisabeth Huynh (Health economist) | |
| Ms Samar Ibrahim (Cultural Advisor) | |
| Ms Jillian Kingsford Smith (Research Officer) | |
| Ms Julie Veitch (Lived experience expert) | |
| Ms Leanne Watts (Lived experience expert) | |
| Ms Mingming Zhou (PhD candidate) |
Governance
- Professor Michael Kidd—Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Australian Government Department of Health
- Mr Charles Maskell-Knight (health policy expert)
- Ms Sandie McGavin (lived experience expert)
- Ms Nadia Owuor (Health Care Consumer Association, ACT)
Members
Contact
Senior Research Fellow