Favourable shift in health care opinions?
A new report has found a positive shift in views on the health system and wide-spread community support for a user pays approach to aged care.
Results of the 2012 Menzies-Nous Australian Health Survey report are in
By Natasha Egan
Almost twice as many people think the health system is working well now compared to four years ago and most Australians agree the public should contribute to their aged care costs, according to the results of a report released in Melbourne today by the Menzies Centre for Health Policy and the Nous Group.
However, a shift in positive opinion about the health care system, does not necessarily mean it’s time to celebrate, says the Australian Medical Association (AMA).
The Menzies-Nous Australian Health Survey report is a biennial survey designed to give a wide-ranging snapshot of perceptions and attitudes among Australians about their health and the health and aged care systems.
The 2012 report is based on telephone interviews of 1,200 people in July 2012.
While this third iteration found there has been a positive shift in attitudes, just 37 per cent believe the health system works pretty well on the whole and only requires minor changes, up from 21 per cent in 2008, when the survey was first conducted.
AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton said: “You could look at it the other way, 63 per cent aren’t happy. That’s a lot of people that aren’t happy.”
The report further found that people with high levels of financial stress had less confidence in the health system.
And they were twice as likely to say the health care system needed to be rebuilt (15 per cent) compared to Australians not financially stressed (8 per cent).
Dr Hambleton said the health system was built for financially stressed people and if they’re not happy, it’s a good indication there’s a problem.
“It would have been better if they surveyed 1200 people who had used the health system. You would have got more valid results,” Dr Hambleton told Australia Ageing Agenda.
Aged care
The good news for Minister for Ageing, Mark Butler, and health minister, Tanya Plibersek, in the area of aged care include support for a user-pays approach, especially for home care, and favourable opinions from older Australians about residential aged care.
Corresponding positively to proposed reform policy, 92 per cent of respondents said the public should pay some of the costs towards aged care with the government paying the rest.
This result hinges on a system based on financial means that doesn’t include selling the family home.
More services to allow people to continue living at home for longer is the key improvement needed, according to 50 per cent of respondents.
And 64 per cent of people reported they would be happy to pay more tax if older people could remain at home and receive adequate care.
Better pay and conditions for aged care workers was the next most important area requiring improvement, the report found.
Gillian McFee, senior adviser at Nous Group, said: “These are key planks of the federal government’s Living Longer, Living Better aged care reforms, so there’s broad support out in the community for these reform directions.”
Aged care must not be forgotten, Dr Hambleton said.
But it needs more investment to pay support services and doctors to make house calls, because it is much more cost effective to work out of the practice, he added.
“Our problem with aged care and the shift to people staying in their own homes is the government hasn’t put in support for doctors to visit people in their own home,” Dr Hambleton said.
The overall view of residential aged care facilities was not great, with only 26 per cent of respondents giving a rating of good to excellent.
However, the proportion increased to 54 per cent of people who had a recent experience with an aged care facility, the report found.
The actual experience may be quite different to negative perceptions in the broader community about residential care, Ms McFee said in a statement.
“This was underscored by the finding that people aged 65 years and over reported even higher satisfaction rates with their most recent visit to a residential care service compared to other age group.” she said.
Consumer directed care
The much heralded consumer directed care received a mixed response.
While 95 per cent of respondents agreed users should decide what care they receive, 69 per cent indicated aged care professionals should decide. The result is based on differently worded questions to ensure against bias.
Just over half (53 per cent) thought aged care professionals should decide where people receiving aged care should live, the report found.
“This finding reaffirms the government’s gradual intent to refocus aged care services on consumer directed care,” Ms McFee said.
“This finding around consumer direction should give government and consumer groups heart that the gradual shift to consumer-directed care contained in the Living Longer Living Better aged care reforms gets a big tick from the community,” she said.
Access a pdf of the report here: Menzies-Nous Australian Health Survey 2012
It is evident that Government funding of aged care services cannot continue at its existing rate. The number of tax payers for each older citizen is expected to halve over the next 40 years.
Users of aged care services will be asked to co-contribute to the cost of services, when there is an ability to make some payments towards the cost of services received.
Where a recipent does not have assets to make payments, the Government will always ensure those who cannot contribute will still receive required services.
Governments in UK, USA, Canada,New Zealand, Japan, and even China and Russia, are now supporting existing and new Equity Release products, so that older home owners are able to use their equity to contribute to their care costs