The 2015 HSC PDHPE exam, Questions 24 asks: To what extent is access to health care facilities and services equitable for all Australians? and is worth 8 Marks. Below is a lovely sample answer from Xanthe. Personally, I loved the first paragraph. It really sets up the rest of the answer and shows that the question is answered from the outset.
To some extent, access to healthcare services and facilities are equitable for all Australians. The degree of access to health services relies heavily on an individuals sociocultural, socioeconomic and environmental determinants. This being, that the access to healthcare in Australia is more accessible for certain groups than others. There has been an attempt by the government to make the access more equitable for all Australians through numerous approaches, but there is still an inadequate amount of access to health services for a large number of Australians. Evidently, the degree of access to services for Australia as a whole needs improvement for equity in health for all.
The Australian Government has made an attempt in the concern for equity in health services through health promotion initiatives and policies put into place. The purpose of doing this is to make access to health services a priority, and accessible for all Australians. A rather effective attempt of this approach is Medicare, which is an example of horizontal equity approach. The aim of Medicare is to provide public health to all Australians, regardless of socioeconomic status. For example, Medicare covers the costs of majority of GP visits by bulk billing, free of charge. This aim is to improve the equity of access to services for all peoples. Medicare provides basic healthcare to all Australians to assist in the equity of health services and does so by providing large amounts of funds. This heavily assists people of low socioeconomic status who may not have the money to pay for adequate health care that they need. Ultimately, Medicare is a great attempt at providing access to health care to all Australians and is extremely effective for equity of health to all.
The Australian Government has also put the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme into place to reduce the inequities of health and ultimately improve access to health services. The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) subsidises most prescription medicines to allow all individuals access to necessary prescription medicines. For example, Asthma puffers are on the PBS as they are a common needed prescription. This allows for individuals to pay a lower price for medicines that are beneficial for people’s health. This scheme has proven to be effective in providing equity amongst Australians regarding health care as it allows individuals to have access to needed medicines. The PBS is the governments attempt at providing access to health care to all Australians and is rather effective for equity of health to all.
Although the government has made a rather strong attempt at providing healthcare to all Australians, there are still certain groups at disadvantage of access to health services. This includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (ATSI) and Rural and Remote living people. These groups have inequities among their sociocultural, socioeconomic and environmental determinants of health. These determinants have a large impact in overall health status, and the approach to these groups regarding access to health care is slowly improving but is still lacking.
ATSI peoples have less access to health services and have health inequities due to limited facilities. This is because of many factors that build up inequities among their sociocultural, socioeconomic and environmental factors. These factors that are most impacting being income, low education levels and geographical location, which also ties in closely with Rural and Remote living peoples. ATSI peoples have less access to health services and facilities due to having low education, which leads to lower income and less services available in rural areas. There has been approaches in reducing these inequities through vertical equity approaches, including the Royal Flying Doctors service, which assists in the delivery of healthcare to people in rural areas. This is an extremely effective approach at providing access to individuals as it provides healthcare to those who may not be able to access it.
Overall, it may be said that access to healthcare services and facilities is equitable for all Australians but there is a number of the population struggling to receive adequate healthcare. The governments approach to this has seemed to be working very slowly as the epidemiology rates have become more stable, but there is still a large amount of people facing health inequities. These inequities need to be addressed by improving the environmental, social and economic conditions. But it is clear to say that the degree of access to services for Australia as a whole needs improvement for equity in health for all.
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