This Month
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?
Defending private hospitals is essential to ‘saving Medicare’
At Monday’s Financial Review Healthcare Summit, Mark Butler and Anne Ruston should rule in urgent reform that better balances needs of hospital operators and insurers.
March
How authorities lost control of the tobacco trade
Tuesday’s budget revealed that billions of dollars in tobacco duties are being evaded, amid fears a flood of illegal cigarettes is unstoppable.
Albanese pledges cheaper medicines with $25 scripts
Labor will pledge to cut subsidised prescription medicines by more than 25 per cent as it seeks to bolster its health credentials ahead of an election.
Doctor fees to be laid bare under comparison site upgrade
Labor says patients will be able to check average specialist fees and out-of-pocket costs under an upgrade to the failed Medical Costs Finder website.
Health insurance fees to rise more than Labor says
Health Minister Mark Butler has been called out for understating the size of the increase in health insurance premiums this year.
Ramsay, Healthscope reject ‘nonsense’ health insurance funding promise
The country’s biggest private hospital operators will push the government to force an increase in the percentage of their premiums paid to them.
Healthscope calls in KordaMentha to prepare its contingency plans
The country’s second-largest private hospital operator has engaged the restructuring experts just days after it failed to pay rent on 11 properties.
Labor backs local IV fluid maker to hedge against supply shocks
Labor will invest $20 million in Baxter Healthcare’s IV fluid production facility in western Sydney.
Healthscope resolves funding dispute with non-profit insurers
The Brookfield-owned private hospital giant said the agreement meant millions of members of the funds would not need to pay additional out-of-pocket fees.
February
Albanese hit hard by live fire from all sides
From Chinese warships, to Trump’s tariffs, to Australia’s sense of itself, Anthony Albanese is struggling to show he has convincing answers.
Ramsay says Labor’s premium hike will not cover soaring hospital costs
Still, shares in the country’s largest private hospital operator rose sharply after it appointed Goldman Sachs to assess the sale of its European business.
Timing of health insurance rise another sign an election is nigh
In the current environment, no such proclamation would be complete without the counterfactual, otherwise known as Peter Dutton.
Health insurance premiums to rise 3.7pc in new cost-of-living hit
Health Minister Mark Butler has signed off on an above-inflation hike in private health insurance premiums, the biggest rise since 2018.
Big pharma sues GenesisCare over Labor-endorsed copycat cancer drug
Swiss pharma giant Novartis is taking legal action against the Australian cancer care provider as a dispute over how to fund and regulate nuclear medicines escalates.
Dutton to match Labor’s GP funding in big-spending campaign pledge
The opposition leader promises to match Labor’s $8.5 billion GP funding pledge as he seeks to defend his record on health.