Why Is the Australian Government Interested in Complementary Medicine? A Case Study of Economic Rationalism

H. Baer
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引用次数: 17

Abstract

To address rising health costs, the Australian government has relied on several strategies: (1) covert rationing that entails limiting public health funds for particular patients or services; (2) the allocation of patients awaiting surgery to a priority level; (3) increased copayments for physician visits necessitated by practices such as physicians refusing to bulk bill; and (4) the establishment of an independent auditor for the private health insurance industry. However, the health economics literature rarely mentions that the growing support in various ways of the Australian government for complementary medicine may constitute another strategy for curtailing rising health costs. The government's main support for complementary medicine has come in the form of training programs in chiropractic, osteopathy, Chinese medicine, and naturopathy in public tertiary institutions and partnerships between private complementary colleges and public universities. Compared with biomedical education with its need for hospitals and sophisticated technology, complementary training programs are inexpensive. Furthermore, complementary services are generally not covered by Medicare but must be paid for either out of pocket or by a private health plan.
为什么澳大利亚政府对补充医学感兴趣?经济理性主义的个案研究
为了应对不断上涨的医疗成本,澳大利亚政府采取了几种策略:(1)秘密定量配给,限制特定患者或服务的公共卫生资金;(2)将等待手术的病人分配到优先级;(3)增加因医生拒绝批量付款等行为而需要出诊的共付费用;(4)为私营健康保险行业设立独立的审计机构。然而,卫生经济学文献很少提及澳大利亚政府以各种方式对补充医学的日益增长的支持可能构成另一种削减不断上升的卫生成本的策略。政府对补充医学的主要支持形式是在公立高等院校开展脊椎指压、整骨疗法、中医和自然疗法的培训项目,以及私立补充学院与公立大学的合作。与需要医院和尖端技术的生物医学教育相比,补充培训项目并不昂贵。此外,补充服务一般不包括在医疗保险范围内,必须自掏腰包或由私人健康计划支付。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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