ABSTRACT
Introduction The Australian healthcare system presents a complex set of arrangements and interactions between the public and private sectors. Government health policy objectives include the provision of tax-financed medical services, medicines and acute healthcare for all Australians under Medicare. Most Australians interpret this as meaning no substantial barriers to the use of health services. Alongside this sits another government goal that explicitly supports the private sector, 'Choice through private health: a viable private health industry to improve the choice of health services for Australians'.1 Perhaps it is not surprising that the relationship between the two sectors is complex and at times uneasy.
