Promoting private health insurance in Australia.

Health insurance policy in Australia has been distinguished by considerable instability over the past five years. This paper reviews the rationale and emerging evidence on three major policy initiatives--a move to allow selective contracting, the introduction of a 30 percent government subsidy for private health insurance, and the abolition of pure community rating. Policy making on private health insurance has been characterized by insufficient attention to research that might provide a stronger evidence basis for policy reforms.