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What are better, public or private hospitals?

Karen Willis and Sophie Lewis write in The Conversation (18.3.16) about their assessments, and patients’ perceptions, of the relative merits of public and private hospitals.

‘Around half of Australians have private health insurance. So if they need to go to hospital, they may have the option of going public or private.

‘Although some people try to research their options extensively, it’s a challenge to find any useful information about hospital options. Most rely on their own experiences, the experiences of friends and family, advice from their doctors, or what they see and hear in the media.

‘The biggest users of private health insurance hospital benefits are 60- to 79-year-olds. Women in their 20s and 30s also have a higher claim rate for maternity care.

‘But around a quarter of people with private health insurance choose to use the public system. Let’s look at how users choose whether to go public or private, and how the two systems compare.’

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