Ben Harris spoke to ABC radio about why health insurers are investing in more out of hospital care services

09 May 2025Interviews and Transcripts

Transcript

Station: ABC NewsRadio
Program: Drive
Date: 9/5/2025
Time: 3:46 PM
Compere: Laura Tchilinguirian

Interviewee: Mr Ben Harris, Director of Policy and Research, Private Healthcare Australia

RACHEL HAYTER:	Labor campaigned hard on its health care record, but now the newly re-elected Albanese Government is being urged to do more to boost standards. It comes as new research indicates Australia is falling behind comparable nations in providing healthcare services to patients in their own home with rates here around half that of Canada and just a quarter of the United Kingdom’s. Advocates of hospital in the home care say health insurers should be required to fund a minimum level of cover for their customers. Nick Grimm reports.
REPORTER:	After a serious car accident in her 20s, Melbourne woman Sue Homewood found herself in need of a knee replacement this year.
SUE HOMEWOOD:	As the surgeon said, he said you’ve sort of got 80-year-old knees in a 58-year-old body.
REPORTER:	And with a brand new knee installed in a hospital operated by Cabrini Health, the retiree was offered the chance to undergo rehabilitation at home. For her, doing that in familiar surroundings supported by her family and visiting healthcare professionals presented an irresistible choice.
SUE HOMEWOOD:	And also, I wanted to get out of hospital. No offence to Cabrini, but it is full of sick people. And also, no matter how much they try and get you to walk around and do various things, there’s still the whole concept is that you’re in bed or you’re in a chair. Whereas when you’re at home, you automatically go back into doing things around the house, moving around a lot better and getting on with your life.
JAMES POLLARD:	Yeah, so all the evidence suggests that you recover just as well, if not better, if you get home as soon as you possibly can.
REPORTER:	Dr James Pollard is Clinical Director of Community Care at Cabrini Health. He’s also President of the Hospital in the Home Society of Australasia, and wants more Australians to get the care they need in their own home.
JAMES POLLARD:	So look, I think there needs to be an ongoing recognition that this is a really valuable part of our healthcare system, and it’s one of the best-kept secrets in our healthcare system. As I said, it’s been part of our- part of the furniture for 30 years, but so few people know about it, so we certainly need better public awareness.
REPORTER:	It comes as research from Catholic Health Australia shows less than five per cent of Australian patients receive treatment in the home. That’s well behind similar nations like Canada, which sits at 10 per cent, and the UK, which has reached a rate of 20 per cent. The CHA’s Director of Public Health, Alex Lynch, is urging the Federal Government to legislate to make hospital at home care available to all Australians with private health insurance.
ALEX LYNCH:	There’s a postcode lottery. If you’re in the right postcode with the right insurer, you can receive hospital in the home for a certain type of treatment like chemotherapy or palliative care. But if you’re with the wrong insurer you have to go onto a ward, into a hospital to receive that care. We believe that patients and their doctors should control where you receive your care, not insurers.
BEN HARRIS:	So we need to do a lot better in Australia and we’re being way too slow.
REPORTER:	That’s Ben Harris from Private Healthcare Australia, which represents 22 health funds.
BEN HARRIS:	Private health funds are already doing a lot in out-of-hospital care and we want to do more. What we need is high quality services. So just yesterday, we’ve seen Bupa and Ramsay Health Care, Australia’s largest hospital provider, put in a new contract, which means they’re going to expand out-of-hospital care into people’s homes in a whole range of areas, and we need much more of that innovative thinking in the sector.
REPORTER:	For Sue Homewood, getting home was a critical stop on her road to recovery, and she’s not looking back.
SUE HOMEWOOD:	Oh, I think it’s the best thing to do. The whole reason you actually are in hospital is to get better and get on with life.
RACHEL HAYTER:	That’s Melbourne woman Sue Homewood ending that report by Nick Grimm. And the ABC approached the Federal Health Minister, Mark Butler, for comment.
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