Pirate Congress 2015/Motions/Policy and Platform/Health Policy

Preamble
Pirate Party Australia believes that ensuring universal access to affordable, high-quality health care is a core responsibility of government. However, with resources tight it is necessary to accomplish this by improving the quality and priorities of existing spending, which already accounts for around 25% of overall federal, state and local government revenues. (refer to Figure 2.4).

Making better health affordable
The trend of rising health expenditure in many countries partly reflects growing demand due to the increasing effectiveness of clinical practice informed by ever more sophisticated medical research and technology (refer to Table 2.14). However, rising costs may also be driven by rent-seeking in an industry which is often far removed from the economic ideal of a free market due to high entry barriers and large information asymmetries. . Thus, a key role of governments is to enforce effective regulation to protect patients from over-servicing, price-gouging and treatments which lack a solid evidence base. Ideally, the regulatory framework should allow maximum flexibility for medical staff, and avoid undermining the intrinsic, non-monetary motivations of health professionals.

Cost-shifting between public and private sources should not a priority for health reformers. Rather, the goal should always be to minimise the total public and private cost of achieving our desired health outcomes. This can done partly by removing the private health insurance rebate, which, by most estimates, provides poor value for its $5 billion per year cost. Removal of pharmaceutical patents and their replacement with alternative research incentives will also lower health costs by slashing medicine prices. A greater focus on improving preventative practices will also pay off significantly, with a 2013 Senate report noting that, "by addressing the social determinants of health that are the genesis of many health problems, the costs to government of providing healthcare can be reduced, and individuals can enjoy better health outcomes". This is reckoned to be particularly effective at reducing the likelihood of chronic illness, which often requires highly complex treatment regimens.

Fundamentally, Pirate Party Australia believes that public subsidies for health services should ideally be determined by:
 * the seriousness of the patient's illness or injury,
 * the proven effectiveness of the treatment,
 * the financial capacity of the patient,
 * the wider public benefit (e.g, 'herd immunity' resulting from immunisations),
 * the opportunity cost for the rest of the health system.

Plugging the gaps
Australia's health system faces several old challenges and several new ones.

Mental health is inadequately supported in Australia. Untreated, or inadequately treated, mental illness leads to much unnecessary suffering, not only by the mentally ill themselves but also by their family, friends and the wider community. Suicide is the leading cause of death for Australians between the ages of 15 and 45 , and the fact that mental illness is itself a significant risk factor for physical ill-health means that better resourcing of treatment for the former often pays for itself by savings for the latter. A priority is to improve coordination of services to ensure that recovering patients have stable and appropriate housing, with access to ongoing support. Given the vulnerable social and financial position of many who suffer from mental illness the case for public funding of services is especially strong. Mental health advocates stress the potential for better coordination between agencies to improve outcomes and reduce costs.

While most Australians can afford dental treatment and have adequate dental health, there are severe and chronic dental health issues among many lower income groups. While some have called for a universal dental scheme, the Australian Dental Association has warned against it on the grounds that thinly rationed coverage across the board would be unnecessary for the majority and insufficient for those in greatest need. Pirate Party Australia instead supports the Australian Dental Association's preferred model, which focuses resources on the poorest and most needy, and thereby achieves better outcomes at less overall cost.

Australia should also do more to avert the risk of growing resistance to antibiotics.(Finance and Public Administration References Committee, Progress in the implementation of the recommendations of the 1999 Joint Expert Technical Advisory Committee on Antibiotic Resistance, June 2013.) Antibiotics for treating human infections are quite closely regulated in Australia, but better public education would help further reduce the number of unnecessary prescriptions for antibiotics. Pirate Party Australia believes weak oversight of antibiotics used as growth promoters in animal feed may need to be improved and monitoring of antibiotic residues in imported fish and animal products may need to be stepped up.

Data and IT infrastructure
PPAU supports moves by the Federal Government to establish a national system of electronic health records, provided strict privacy safeguards are enforced. Once in place, such a system promises to provide better medical care at a lower cost by avoiding duplication of diagnostic tests and by reducing the incidence of medical errors. The data gathered, once suitably anonymised, will be of great value to researchers for epidemiological and other studies, and free access should be maximised with public funding of the necessary IT infrastructure. At the same time, to avoid an incentive to falsify medical records, the public must be assured that the data gathered cannot be used to discriminate against them, for instance by employers or insurance companies.

Undertake measures which ensure best-value for money in the health system

 * Abolish pharmaceutical patents and substitute a 'bounty' system to support pharmaceutical research (see patents policy).
 * Provide financial encouragement for parents to vaccinate their children (see tax and welfare policy)
 * Immediate reduce $5 in annual costs by abolition of the private health insurance rebate.

Support general systemic improvements in Australia's health system

 * Provide additional $2.5 billion allocated based on existing funding ratios to reduce pressure on the public health system and manage any increased patent need resulting from lower private health coverage.
 * Improve privacy safeguards for electronic health records (see civil liberties policy).
 * Conclude development of a national system of electronic health records.
 * Ensure personal files incorporate strong cryptographic protection, and utilise a format easily processed with standards, free software.

Undertake new measures to close gaps in health coverage

 * Provide $2 billion per year to fund Australian Dental Association recommendations on improving dental health.
 * Fund direct service provision for those currently lacking access to dental care, including people facing financial disadvantage, people in remote areas, the elderly, children of health card concession holders, and those with special needs.
 * Increase incentives for dental students to accept rural placements by expanding the existing scheme for medical students.
 * Support preventive and promotional health health initiatives and integrate dental care into Australia's health plans.
 * Provide $500 million to support expanded accommodation services for homeless mentally ill people.
 * Establish a national centre to coordinate Australia's response to antibiotic resistance.