This Month
How specialist fees of $900 per visit are hurting private hospitals
Australians are paying hundreds of dollars to see a doctor that they cannot claim back on health insurance.
May
Brookfield has made private equity’s life harder after Healthscope
The failure of the country’s second-largest private hospital operator will have implications for private investment in social infrastructure for years to come.
Healthscope’s terminal prognosis could be just the start
Another eight private hospitals are earmarked for closure as the operator’s collapse raises questions about the business model.
Hedge funds weigh up longer-term ownership of collapsed Healthscope
Polus Capital and Canyon Partners are considering whether they should tip money into the failed hospital operator amid questions about private equity ownership.
States demand assurances from Butler after Healthscope collapse
The future of the failed private hospital giant is partly in the hands of five Chinese state-owned banks and asset managers which control a fifth of its debt.
Healthscope lifeline to keep hospitals afloat amid buyer search
While the company says it has 10 prospective suitors, Health Minister Mark Butler has flagged that overseas private equity firms are unacceptable hospital owners.
Getting medicated has never been easier, and Canberra is worried
Online prescriptions – for everything from weight loss to medicinal cannabis – is now a big business backed by Woolworths and NIB. But regulation is coming.
After three wobbly years, Albanese’s second term is taking off
The stack of new Labor MPs is reminiscent of the “class of 96”, which acted as John Howard’s praetorian guard for many years.
Labor rules out Healthscope bailout amid fears of hospital closures
Health Minister Mark Butler says the federal government is closely watching the unfolding Healthscope situation.
Plibersek sidelined, PM puts fixers in environment and NDIS
Mark Butler has been given the task of bringing the NDIS under control, while Tanya Plibersek has been pushed out of environment and replaced by Murray Watt.
Albanese starts fixing, the Coalition starts breaking
Anthony Albanese has put two of his best ministers in charge of his biggest problems. Meanwhile, the change to the Coalition’s internal ratio adds to its woes.
How Labor weaponised Medicare (again) to take on Peter Dutton
Labor has put health at the centre of the election campaign in a strategy to demonise the opposition leader and woo voters with the promise of free doctor visits.
April
BGH Capital GP chain ‘laughing all the way to the bank’ under Labor
The firm - co-founded by Ben Gray, who hosted an election fundraiser for Anthony Albanese - has been a big winner from Labor’s Medicare reforms.
GP salaries of $400k-plus put in spotlight by healthcare election
Labor says GPs will be paid more if they bulk-bill patients, but doctors are doubtful as the costs of running a clinic rise.
Peter Dutton’s credentials loom over health debate
Health Minister Mark Butler and his shadow Anne Ruston faced off, and the opposition leader’s time running that department again proved a goldmine for Labor.
GP earnings to top $400k a year under bulk-billing plan: Butler
Labor says GPs will earn $124,000 a year more than they did three years ago, once its bulk-billing incentives are implemented.
Eli Lilly issues warning for Australia as Trump signals pharma tariffs
In an interview, the US pharmaceuticals giant’s international chief says Australia has made no progress in making life easier for medicine developers.
Butler expects tariff pain on medicines and healthcare giants
The Health Minister says briefings from US officials suggest foreign pharmaceuticals could soon be targeted by a separate US trade investigation.
Labor’s hospital funding push to cost health funds $1b a year
The health minister said there had been a “shift up in profitability and management expenses of insurers” as he urged them to negotiate with care providers.
Cheaper weight loss drugs would boost economy: study
The growing number of Australians with obesity is causing economic damage but should the taxpayer fund weight-loss drugs?