Australia’s commitment to universal healthcare, championed by Anthony Albanese, has long focused on treatment. But dementia exposes a structural weakness: the system is built to manage decline, not prevent it. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, dementia became the nation’s leading cause of death in 2024, responsible for more than 17,500 deaths — a near 40 per cent rise in a decade.
Evidence from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows up to 45 per cent of dementia risk is linked to modifiable factors including physical inactivity, hearing loss, cardiovascular disease, depression and social isolation. These risks are not addressed primarily in hospitals, but through allied health services delivered early and consistently.
Yet Medicare funding remains heavily skewed toward late-stage care. In 2020–21, most dementia spending flowed to hospitals and residential care, while prevention services received minimal support. This imbalance is clinically and economically unsustainable.
If Medicare is to remain Australia’s social contract, prevention-led allied health care must be treated as essential infrastructure, not an optional extra introduced too late.