Australia Eyes US Health Care As A Role-Model?

California representatives of the US Kaiser Health Plan and the Australian and South Australian governments have held talks on the possibility of introducing managed health care systems into Australia. However, their introduction would depend heavily on politics, said US health economist David Lairson from the School of Public Health at the University of Texas. He was visiting Australia as the adjunct professor of the Queensland University of Technology.

A recent petition to the Australian government opposing the creation of US health care systems there, through Australia's Health Legislation (Private Health Insurance Reform) Amendment Act 1994, well illustrates the opposition to these types of health programs.

Prof Lairson commented: "I think what we find here is that Australia tends to look to the USA and the UK for innovation in various fields....I think the latest area of development has to do with managed care - where private sector health care organizations are formed which insure for health care and provide it."