The Australian health care system may not be perfect, but it's proven that it serves the nation well. Central to this effort is Medicare and continued high levels of government involvement in health care funding and delivery. Australians recognise this by their continued high level of support for Medicare. Life expectancies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are around 20 years less than the average for Australians overall. However, it is not the same for all Australians.
Social inequalities contribute to variable health outcomes.
Health facilities and the health workforce are not uniformly distributed across Australia. People in rural and remote Australia generally use such services less frequently. Overall measures of access do not exist, but waiting lists for elective surgery give some indication of access to hospital care. Canberra AGPS 1997. The Quality in Australian Health Care Study, Medical Journal of Australia 163, pp 452-453. 5.