Lessons in health care reform from three Pacific Rim nations: Part 2

In part 2 of a series of articles in JAMA Health Forum, Senior Scholar Dave A. Chokshi analyzes the efforts of Australia and New Zealand in the realms of digital health and heath equity, and how the United States can learn by example.

As part of an 11-day leadership exchange with the Commonwealth Fund and Academy Health, Dr. Chokshi recently traveled to Singapore, Australia and New Zealand to observe how they approach health challenges also prevalent in the U.S.

Chokshi describes how Australia is striving to revamp its Medicare system by advancing digital health infrastructure. The nation is one of the few in the world with an established digital health agency, through which each Australian is provided by the federal government with a personal health chart. Policymakers have recently pledged to invest more resources into the program, as it is largely underutilized by providers.

By enacting measures to better serve its historically marginalized Māori community, Chokshi uses New Zealand as an example of how to promote health equity across the board. Through its Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) reforms, the country has centralized health care operations and established the Māori Health Authority which embeds a Māori perspective into the health system. Chokshi notes that this focus on equity in New Zealand has improved the system for all its citizens.

Chokshi observed that in these countries, which share some of the political divisions we experience in the U.S., policymakers can at least agree on the challenges and ultimate goals. In order to improve the health system at home, he says, U.S. lawmakers will need to reach some sort of consensus on the major problems to be confronted, in order to move to solutions.

“As the U.S. confronts health care challenges similar to those of these peer nations, there should be spirited debates about the right way to fund and organize primary care, digital health, and health equity,” Chokshi writes. “To start, tackling these topics will require expanding the political aperture from health insurance policy to health care policy to health policy.”

Read the full article, “Lessons From Across the Pacific—Health Policy Debates Worth Having, Part 2” here.

Read part 1 here.

Chokshi DA. Lessons From Across the Pacific—Health Policy Debates Worth Having, Part 2. JAMA Health Forum. 2023;4(6):e232534. doi:10.1001/jamahealthforum.2023.2534