Health

Australian athletes emphasise the need for more support at a younger age to help sports stars move on when their careers end, saying Dan Vickerman's death is a tragic reminder of the need to focus more on mental health.

Parts of Australia's biggest cities could struggle to attract enough disability workers for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, a new report warns.

For Jan Pike, one of the biggest fights of her life has been dealing with the National Disability Insurance Scheme - so much so, that she says it almost cost her her life.

Australia's consumer watchdog plans to take legal action against more private health insurers this year, saying many patients are being slugged with unexpected hefty bills after hospital visits.

A portable helmet being trialled by Australian paramedics that uses microwave technology to quickly diagnose a suspected stroke could help doctors save lives and intervene before major brain damage occurs.

Thousands of counterfeit prescription pills made their way into Australia's official supply chain in 2010, ending up at a children's hospital in Sydney. Now the pharmacist who supplied the fakes is fighting the cancellation of his licence.

The Federal Government has moved to loosen importation laws on medicinal cannabis, and people who use it say they are cautiously optimistic.

Even as the Commonwealth Bank last week unveiled another record half-year profit of $5 billion, not everything was rosy — its life insurance arm CommInsure continues to be a headache, and with ASIC campaigning insurers to publicly report claim figures, premiums could rise as a consequence.

The Federal Government has approved the importation of medicinal marijuana. But it still won't be easy for people to get a prescription.

The Government looks set to unwind the Medicare rebate freeze in the May budget, in a move that could cost in excess of $3 billion.

Australia is being left behind when it comes to dealing with the obesity epidemic, according to a new report. Take a look at some of the key things it says can help us catch up.

Gastric band surgery should be made more widely available, researchers say, after a study found the procedure had major benefits to overweight people with type-two diabetes.

People with prosopagnosia know when they see a face, but their brain can't process who it belongs to.

A public hospital in country South Australia is forced to rely upon a private donor to fix a badly leaking roof after the State Government ignored repeated requests to replace it.

In most cases of death from carbon monoxide poisoning, the first responder will not recognise the risk and also die trying to rescue the victim, an expert says.

Sydney doctor Elizabeth Oliver was taken aback when a patient of hers said she earned "easy money". Now she has laid out her case for why she is worth more than the $37 the "frozen" Medicare rebate provides.

Australian doctors say viewing X-rays on a smartphone can be just as useful in diagnosing common lung problems in babies as looking at the standard X-ray film, opening up opportunities for rural patients who need quick diagnosis.

For many disability and education advocates it's confirmation of their long-held belief, but new figures appear to suggest students with a disability face an enormous funding gap in Australian schools.

Once it's fully operational, the NDIS will be one of the biggest Government-funded program after Medicare. But where will those funds come from?