Population aging has been named the silent transition since it is incremental yet unremitting and inevitably widespread. The aging of populations in Australia will intensify over the next few decades, with far-reaching economic consequences (Evans & Gray, 2018). It will slow the population and economic development in Australia, at the same time that growing demands are being put on Australia's health and aged care systems. Currently, the total fertility rate (TFR) needed for replacement is estimated to be around 2.1 babies per woman to replace herself and her partner. In 2018, Australia's total fertility rate (TFR) was 1.74 babies per woman, down from 2.02 babies per woman in 2008. Since 1976 Australia's TFR has been lower than substitution (Basten et al., 2014). In this essay, the health care system of Australia will be discussed concerning the aging population and the steps taken to ensure a sustainable health care system for the future.
The total fertility rate (TFR) represents the total number of babies born or anticipated to be born to a female in her lifespan if the female is subject to the age-specific fertility rate prevailing in the populace. This value reflects the average number of children a woman would need to bear by bringing to reproductive age a surviving daughter. If reproduction is sustained at the level of replacement for a long period, the population will substitute themselves precisely, without any of the nation having to juggle the populations with international migration (Degenhardt et al., 2014). The ratio of dependency is an estimate of the total of dependents aged between zero and 14 years and over 65, about the total adult population among 15 to 64 years. This demographic indicator gives insight into the number of people who are not working-age in comparison to the number of people working-age. Just like most developed countries, Australia has an aging population (Dockery et al., 2015). Over the coming decades, the number of people aged 65 and over is estimated to more than double, increasing questions about how long-term economic conditions in Australia will affect that. Australia faces substantial aging of its population in the next 40 years. By 2044-45, one-fifth of Australians will be 65 or older, roughly doubling the existing proportion. The 'young' proportion would go even higher.
The aging of the population should not be seen as an issue in itself, but it will create economic and fiscal challenges that pose major political challenges. Unless action is taken to mitigate it would create a disparity between government revenues and expenditure that needs to be filled. In Australia, each jurisdiction is affected in various ways, depending on their particular roles and revenue-raising ability. Population aging would need new approaches to the policy at all levels of government. Australia's demographic change, the population aging has occurred ever since people began to gain control over fertility and mortality (Nobles et al., 2015). The age structure has changed significantly, as the rate of deaths in all age groups has decreased and the total number of births per woman has dropped. These demographic factors are pushing the age distribution into a different form. It has already changed from a pyramid to its new form of a beehive. The population age structure will continue its inversion in light of current trends and begin to resemble a coffin. The generation that will turn 65 from 2011 to 2031 is named the 'baby boomers' — born after World War II in an age of increased fertility. Australia's generational change is often seen as a 'problem' baby boomer (Smailes et al., 2014). However, it is a misconception to see the aging of the population as just about the number of elderly people. It is also about the population's age structure and the ratio of the elderly to the elderly. Any given number of the needs of the elderly can be met as long as there are enough younger people to boost the economy and provide the requisite services (Weeks, 2020).
Future age structure expectations require predictions about future trends of fertility, mortality, and net migration. These take the latest developments in fertility, mortality, and migration figures into account, which is why they were used instead of the official population estimates. In recent decades, health care spending in Australia has gradually risen much as it has in many countries across the globe. Governments are becoming more worried about how to keep the amount of public spending going. Some are searching for ways to minimize healthcare cost inflation or 'flex the cost structure’ (Doppelt, 2017). Increasing medical expenses are indeed a challenging issue to overcome as there is a range of things that push up insurance prices, and most of them are deeply embedded in a complicated healthcare system where much of what happens is beyond the reach of government. Simple technological strategies, such as enforcing stricter government are doing to keep the health care sustainable to alter health professionals or the actions of customers, are unlikely to be successful alone since they do not address the crucial political implications of the issue. For example, policymakers ought to figure out ways to keep the medical facilities at best whilst negatively impacting patient outcomes, especially for people who are still in terrible conditions (Hunter, 2016). Governments will also affect progress on the position of delivery of health care services. This can be daunting because many health care providers work in the private sector under the direct oversight of the government.
More patients, and thus medical practitioners at all levels, experience devices that are tracked remotely. While both currently installed pacemakers and defibrillators have become worthy of remote access, the use of implantable loop monitoring has also increased considerably. The product manufacturers in Australia have become progressively willing to finance a system in which all monitoring equipment takes place through their qualified members of the industry, who will usually inform the client at the implant, will notify the patient directly at residence to promote the set-up and transmitting phase alongside repairing, then triage and reporting of the data transmission before the provision of the physician (Jang-Jaccard et al., 2014). All this is done by the government as steps to ensure a sustainable health care system for the future. The main drawback of this method that has been established in the industry is a conflict of interest. For-profit companies generally have to optimize returns to shareholders. The medical profession, by contrast, should place the needs of patients first, regardless of economic concerns.
As a whole health system capability has a major impact on the growth of spending. Capacity is primarily determined by the number of health-care facilities and the number of medical-care staff within the system. The latest changes have been introduced in the way health workers are educated and registered in Australia but it's still too early to assess their effect on expenditure growth. However, the decision-making processes provided very little attention to Australia's health care system (Perry et al., 2014). Several financing systems for health services are still in place, making it impossible to do so. If not impossible, the impact of facility finance decisions on health spending should be tracked. To help track growth in health spending, policymakers should consider incorporating and maintaining it completely explicit in the major decision-making processes in Australia's infrastructure.
There are several choices in healthcare to promote competition, but previous actions here as well and internationally demonstrate that creative approaches may not always offer the expected benefits. Policymakers must first consider the disparities between health care and other sectors to devise and implement successful competition policies in healthcare. Some alternatives in medical care include promoting greater role replacement (e.g., using nurse practitioners or physician assistants where possible). The biggest issue in medical insurance is resolving unresolved questions about private policy participation in the Medicare context. There are currently several insurance reform options and they include alternatives such as: promoting regulated competition among insurance providers, reassigning existing public-private insurance subsidies to other areas such as uninsured patients, private-sector bed-subsidy clinics, or directly to public-sector hospitals (D’Andreamatteo et al., 2015).
Population aging, under any logical collection of assumptions, is an inevitability. Even though there was no more increase in life expectancy (a somewhat negative outlook), and there were steady fertility and migration rates, population aging will begin. There are, in reality, compelling reasons that the aging population may turn out to be deeper than the base case, especially those vulnerable to demographic trends in the population share of the elderly (people 85 years of age or older) — the community for whom health and aged care expenses are the highest. Government agencies should strive to find creative ways to work together in areas of shared accountability to make more progress in the healthcare workforce market. That is to give the state a greater role and to make the system more open and to train healthcare professionals. The health e sector in Australia should be seen as a reform priority, as it has an enormous effect on the quality and the availability of services.
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