The Distributional Impact of Health Outlays: Developing the Research and Modelling Infrastructure for Policy Makers

The Commonwealth recently concluded that the projected increase in health outlays over the next few decades is unaffordable. Policy makers are therefore going toface difficult decisions about health funding, the balance between government nad consumer contributes to health costs, and about taxes (which fund public health outlays). They do not currently have adequate modelling tools to help them make sound decisions. This project aims to redress this situation, by constructing a microsimulation model of the health sector, with a capacity to access the likely distributional impact of possible policy changes an their revenue or expenditure implications.