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Ageing time bomb will ‘overwhelm’ hospitals and budgets

John Kehoe

The $250 billion healthcare system will be overwhelmed by a four-fold increase in the number of people turning 80 and put extraordinary financial pressures on younger taxpayers, patients and the industry, the chief executive of health insurance and wellbeing company Australian Unity has warned.

Rohan Mead said unless there was an urgent redesign of the healthcare system to better manage ageing diseases through technology and a broader range of allied health professionals, throwing more money at the demographic time bomb would not fix the problem.

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John Kehoe is economics editor at Parliament House, Canberra. He writes on economics, politics and business. John was Washington correspondent covering Donald Trump’s first election. He joined the Financial Review in 2008 from Treasury. Connect with John on Twitter. Email John at jkehoe@afr.com

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    Original URL: https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/ageing-time-bomb-will-overwhelm-hospitals-and-budgets-20250302-p5lg7b