The gross prices of private fee-for-service psychiatric services under Medicare in six Australian regions 1984-2001

Abstract

The subsidies available for medical services under Australia's national compulsory and universal health insurance scheme (Medicare) exist to improve 'equality of access'. This study empirically analyses the gross prices in one medical industry, private fee-for-service (FFS) psychiatry, across six Australian regions. Quarterly time-series data on the average gross prices are examined to determine statistically the extent to which these prices have been constant through time, and spatially uniform. The gross price outcomes of the market(s) in which uniform subsidies apply provide, in part, an indication of whether uniform spatial 'access' to psychiatric services is achieved under Medicare.