ABSTRACT
This chapter examines two separate but interrelated issues. The first is the role of the private sector in health care in Australia. The second is the planning of private sector services. Libertarians view health care as part of the market-oriented private system for which they are willing to pay. The private/public debate is controversial in most countries, but no more so than in Australia with its mixed private/public system. The very early history of health care provision in Australia was characterised by a high degree of private influence and control, although successive governments provided substantial subsidies to private and charitable health care organisations. The terms of the Australian Health Care Agreements (previously the Medicare Agreements) between Commonwealth and states/territories require that public hospitals provide access for all eligible persons on the sole basis of clinical need. The question of the technical efficiency of public versus private health care services is central to policy and planning considerations in the private sector.
