Reform wasn’t meant to be easy. Here’s how the battles for Medicare and child support defeated vested interests
Ideas are cheap. Getting major reforms through is the hard part, but we’ve done it before.
Before 1975, health care in Australia was largely fee-for-service with some private insurance coverage. Most uninsured people were low-income and those with chronic or severe issues. Four attempts to introduce a universal health plan were made between 1937 and 1953, but were all fiercely opposed by medical and health insurance associations.
It took a successful push led by research at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic Research and an alliance with sympathetic media for Gough Whitlam to support the Medibank scheme indirectly. The struggle for Medibank lasted 30 years, with resistance coming from doctors, private insurers, hospitals, bureaucrats and state governments. The main issues were about money, profits and control, not the best interests of the population.
Written by urgent.news from The Conversation AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
