Over 45% of Australians buy health insurance for private treatment in hospital. This is despite having access to universal and free public hospital treatment. Anecdotal evidence suggests that one possible explanation for the high rate of insurance coverage is to avoid long waiting times for...

The percentage of Australians taking up Private Health Insurance (PHI) was in decline following the introduction of Medicare in 1984 (PHIAC). To arrest this decline the Australian Government introduced a suite of policies, between 1997 and 2000, to create incentives for Australians to purchase...

This paper investigates the role of family formation in particular the effect of children - actual and desired - on the purchase of private health insurance. A unique panel data set of young Australian women (under 30 years old) from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health [ALSWH] is...