for the looming demographic transition to much older populations. Rafal

Chomik, from the Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research

(CEPAR) at the Australian School of Business, says that Asian

governments have the fiscal capacity to keep expanding their health

systems, but they should heed the successes and failures of reforms in

the region and elsewhere to avoid the excessive cost growth seen in the

West. Thailand is cited as a good example, and Australia’s strong front

line of GPs as well as its pharmaceutical benefits scheme are two

initiatives worth emulating, according to CEPAR investigators.