Young Australians Need Their Own Access To Health Services

Young Australians Need Their Own Access To Health Services

The Age

Wednesday April 16, 2008

Susan Harch and Michael Loftus

Teenagers are entitled to privacy when dealing with medical issues.

IF ANY group has a stake in the future of our health system, it is the young people of Australia. They will be at the forefront of the challenges faced in 2020 and must be adequately equipped for this role. In light of this, delegates at the recent 2020 Youth Summit discussed the importance of enabling young people to have ownership of their own health care.

One mechanism for achieving this goal is through the automatic distribution of Medicare cards and personal accounts to all young Australians when they reach 13.

Why is this important?

Well, imagine for a moment that you are a 14-year-old confused about your sexuality. You're too embarrassed to discuss this with your parents, or perhaps you have unsympathetic parents or come from a dysfunctional family. Wouldn't it be in everyone's best interests if you could talk in confidence to a trusted GP about this?

Under the current Medicare scheme, a young person under 15 can obtain a Medicare card that remains linked to their parents' account, with parental consent. From the age of 15, young people are able to obtain their own Medicare accounts and cards without parental signatories, but require additional information such as their parents' account numbers. However, many young Australians remain unaware of this option.

The present scheme makes it difficult for young people to gain Medicare entitlements and still retain their privacy, given the requirement for parental consent.

The key benefit of our proposal relates to improved privacy for young people in their health-care interactions. Currently, while there is scope for those under 15 to receive their own cards, all claimed Medicare services continue to appear on their parents' accounts.

This deters many young people from accessing health services, particularly those seeking help for conditions that they feel as yet unable to discuss with their parents.

This is particularly apparent in the fields of mental and sexual health, which disproportionately affect young people and are increasing in significance. Such health concerns, by their very nature, make teenagers hesitant to have open discussions with their parents, yet these are areas in which early, sound and professional guidance is essential.

We believe a second benefit of our proposed scheme is improved access for young people to essential health services. Like all other Australians, young people have a right to affordable health care as provided through the Medicare Benefits Scheme.

In light of our constantly changing and complex societal structure, we need to ensure that young people can access Medicare independently of their parents. This concern is magnified in the setting of fractured families, the breakdown of nuclear families and young people living separately from their parents, such as those who may be homeless or in refuges.

The awareness of available services and health entitlements is also central to improving health-care access for young people. At present, many young people over 15 years of age are unaware that they are entitled to their own Medicare account and benefits. We believe that the automatic distribution of Medicare cards will enable young people to seek necessary health interventions when they feel they are necessary.

Perhaps more so for young people than other groups of the Australian population, it is the affordability of health-care services that will determine their accessibility. For a high school student with a limited cash flow, the thought of outlaying the full consultation fee can be daunting, if not impossible. Therein lies the dilemma: is it really necessary to get that sexually transmitted infection check after unprotected sexual intercourse? Do they risk the discovery by their parents that they are sexually active? Are they really feeling so "down" that they need to chat to someone?

"Improved preventive primary health" and "access to the best possible care" are declared priorities of the 2020 Summit. In this context, equal access to Medicare benefits is necessary, particularly for young Australians.

It is essential that young people have the capacity to access services early, thereby tackling mental health concerns before they reach crisis point, and promoting safe sexual practices before life-changing STIs are contracted.

Of course, there will be initial establishment costs. However, since the new Medicare accounts and cards would have ultimately been created, we are simply moving the costs of production forward. Most importantly, this simplifies the process for young Australians who may be inexperienced and unfamiliar with navigating the health-care system.

While representing only a slight change in the current system, this initiative holds the potential for revolutionary effects in many lives, now and into the future. It has been developed by young Australians, for young Australians, with a view to enabling them to take greater responsibility for their own health.

Susan Harch and Michael Loftus are medical students at Monash University. Both attended the recent 2020 Youth Summit as delegates for Health.