To address rising health costs, the Australian government has relied on several strategies: (1) covert rationing that entails limiting public health funds for particular patients or services; (2) the allocation of patients awaiting surgery to a priority level; (3) increased copayments for physician visits necessitated by practices such as physicians refusing to bulk bill; and (4) the establishment of an independent auditor for the private health insurance industry. However, the health economics literature rarely mentions that the growing support in various ways of the Australian government for complementary medicine may constitute another strategy for curtailing rising health costs. The government's main support for complementary medicine has come in the form of training programs in chiropractic, osteopathy, Chinese medicine, and naturopathy in public tertiary institutions and partnerships between private complementary colleges and public universities. Compared with biomedical education with its need for hospitals and sophisticated technology, complementary training programs are inexpensive. Furthermore, complementary services are generally not covered by Medicare but must be paid for either out of pocket or by a private health plan.
Arachne, J. (1997). Alternative Medicines Summit: A consumer's view . Diversity, 10, 3-14.
2.
Australian Complementary Health Association. ( 1996). Alternative Medicines Summit: Health Minister supports alternatives. Diversity, 9, 6.
3.
Australian Democrats. (2004, March). A fairer budget balance for health,
4.
Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, MedicarePlus Update. Retrieved February 6, 2007, from http://www.health.gov.au/medicareplus/.
5.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. ( 2000). Australia's health service expenditure bulletin, no. 1. Canberra, Australia: Author.
6.
Baer, H.A. (2001). Biomedicine and alternative healing systems in America: Issues of class, race, ethnicity, and gender. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
7.
Baer, H.A. (2004). Toward an integrative medicine: merging alternative therapies with biomedicine. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira.
8.
Baer, H.A. (2006). The drive for legitimation in Australian naturopathy: successes and Dilemmas and successes. Social Science and Medicine , 63, 1771-1783.
9.
Bensoussan, A., & Myers, S. (1996). Toward a safer choice: The practice of traditional Chinese medicine in Australia. Melbourne, Australia: Department of Human Services, Victoria.
10.
Beresford, Q. (2000). Governments, markets and globalisation: Australian public policy. St Leonards, New South Wales, Australia: Allen & Unwin.
11.
Carlton, A., & Bensoussan, A. (2002). Regulation of complementary medicine practitioners in Australia: Chinese medicine as a case example. Complementary Therapies inMedicine, 10, 20-26.
12.
Cohen, M. (2004). Practitioners and “regular” doctors: Is integration possible? Medical Journal of Australia, 180, 645-646.
13.
Committee of Inquiry. (1977). Chiropractic, osteopathy, homoeopathy and naturopathy: Report of the Committee of Inquiry (Parliamentary Paper No. 102). Canberra, Australia: Acting Commonwealth Printer.
14.
Committee on the Health Care Complaints Commission. (2005, November). Report into traditional Chinese medicine (Report No. 10/53). Parliament of New South Wales.
15.
Donohoe, M. (2003). The cost of CAM: Against. Journal of Complementary Medicine, 2, 46-48.
16.
Eastwood, H. (2002). Globalisation, complementary medicine, and Australian health. In H. Gardner & S. Barraclough (Eds.), Health policy in Australia (pp. 222-245, 2nd ed.). Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Oxford University Press.
17.
Final report of Alternative Medicines Summit. (1996). Canberra, Australia: Australian Government.
18.
Fullagar, S. (2002). Governing the health body: Discourses of leisure and lifestyle within Australian health policy. Health, 6, 69-84.
19.
Gardner, H., & Barraclough, S. (2002). Introduction: Continuity and change in Australian health policy. In H. Gardner & S. Barraclough (Eds.), Health policy in Australia (pp. 1-10, 2nd ed.). Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Oxford University Press.
20.
Grich, C. (2002). Moving away from the welfare state: The privatisation of the health system. In H. Gardner & S. Barraclough (Eds.), Health policy in Australia (pp. 79-99, 2nd ed.). Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Oxford University Press .
21.
Guthrie, H. (1961). Report of the Honorary Royal Commission appointed to enquire into the provisions of the Natural Therapists Bill: Western Australia . Perth, Western Australia, Australia: Alex B. Davies, Government Printer.
22.
Hall, J., & Viney, R. (2000). In A. Bloom (Ed.), Health reform in Australia and New Zealand (pp. 39-53). Melbourne, Victoria , Australia: Oxford University Press.
23.
Hancock, L. (2002). Australian federalism, politics, and health. In H. Gardner & S. Barraclough (Eds.), Health policy in Australia (pp. 49-78, 2nd ed.). Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Oxford University Press.
24.
Hawkins, P. & O'Neill, A. (1990). Osteopathy in Australia. Bundoora, Victoria, Australia: Phillip Institute of Technology Press.
25.
Jacka, J. (1998). Natural therapies: The politics and passion: A personal story. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Ringwood Natural Therapies.
26.
Kapferer, J. (1996). Being all equal: Identity, difference and Australian cultural practice. Oxford, UK: Berg.
27.
Krause, E.A. (1996). The death of the guilds: Professions, states, and the advance of capitalism. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
28.
Krieken, R., Smith, P., McDonald, K., Haralamos, M., & Holborn, M. (2000). Sociology: Themes and perspectives. Frenchs Forest , New South Wales, Australia: Longman .
29.
McCabe, P. (2006). Tertiary education in naturopathy and Western herbal medicine. In V. Lin, A. Bensoussan, S. P. Myers , P. McCabe, M. Cohen, S. Hill, & G. Howse (Eds.), The practice and regulatory requirements of naturopathy (pp. 119-156). Bundoora, Victoria, Australia: School of Public Health, La Trobe University.
30.
Miliband, R. (1969). The state in capitalist society. London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson.
31.
Najman, J.M. (2003). Health and illness, In I. McAllister, S. Dowrick, & R. Hassan (Eds.). Cambridge handbook of social sciences in Australia (pp. 536-553). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
32.
O'Connor, J. (1973). The fiscal crisis of the state. London: St. James Press.
33.
O'Neill, A. (1994). Enemies within & without: Educating chiropractors, osteopaths, and traditional acupuncturists. Bundoora, Victoria , Australia: La Trobe University Press.
34.
Peters, R., & Chance-Peters, M. (1985). Chiropractic in Australia in 1985: A thumbnail sketch. European Journal of Chiropractic , 33, 169-187.
35.
Petersen, A. (1994). In a critical condition: Health and power relations in Australia St Leonards, New South Wales, Australia: Allen & Unwin.
36.
Podger, A., & Hagan, P. (2000). Reforming the Australian health care system: The role of government. In A. Bloom (Ed.), Health reform in Australia and New Zealand (pp. 115-131). Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Oxford University Press .
37.
Ravenhill, J. (1993). Business and politics. In R. Smith (Ed.), Politics in Australia (pp. 262-284, 2nd ed.). St. Leonards, New South Wales, Australia: Allen & Unwin.
38.
Sherwood, P. (2005). Healing: The history, philosophy and practice of natural medicine. Brisbane, Queensland, Australia: Australian College of Natural Medicine.
39.
Siahpush, M. (1999). Critical review of the sociology of alternative medicine: Research on users, practitioners, and orthodoxy. Health, 4, 159-178.
40.
Social Development Committee. (1986). Inquiry into alternative medicine and the health food industry, Volume 1. Parliament of Victoria.
41.
Ward, H.R. (1975). Report from the Osteopathy, Chiropractic and Naturopathy Committee. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: C. H. Rixon, Government Printer.
42.
Weir, M. (2005). Alternative medicine: A new regulatory model. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Australian Scholarly Publications.
43.
Western Australia Department of Health. (2005 , June). Regulation of practitioners of Chinese medicine in Western Australia. Discussion papers.
44.
White, K. (2002). An introduction to the sociology of health and illness. London: SAGE Publications.
45.
Willis, E. (1991). Chiropractic in Australia. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 14, 59-69.
46.
Wiseman, J. (1998). Global nation? Australia and the politics of globalisationCambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
47.
Wohlmouth, H. (2004). Course and college. The Art of Healing: Byron Bay, 7, 28-29.
