Healthcare is one of the investment themes we like at Montgomery. In most OECD countries, healthcare spend has been growing at around GDP +2% for many decades, and ageing populations will provide a tailwind for some time to come. This is a challenge for governments, who can’t readily grow revenues faster than GDP and so will need to reduce their share of the total spend. However, with demand growing, we expect that private contributions will increase to fill the gap. Baby boomers who can afford to look after themselves will likely choose to do so.
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CSL has announced that it is restarting production of influenza vaccine for the Australian market in response to higher than expected demand this season.
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This article provides interesting context for Resmed and the reimbursement bidding process (extract of key paragraphs below)

Jaime Rosenthal, a senior at Washington University in St. Louis, called more than 100 hospitals in every state last summer, seeking prices for a hip replacement for a 62-year-old grandmother who was uninsured but had the means to pay herself. The quotes she received might surprise even hardened health care economists: only about half of the hospitals, including top-ranked orthopedic centers and community hospitals, could provide any sort of price estimate, despite repeated calls. Those that could gave quotes that varied by a factor of more than 10, from $11,100 to $125,798.

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It is winter in the United States, and there has been a severe outbreak of influenza. New York State declared a public health emergency on Saturday, with nearly 20,000 cases of flu reported across the state so far this season (compared with 4,400 cases reported in the whole of last season). There has been a widespread public services campaign to encourage people to receive vaccines, and under the emergency order pharmacists in New York will be allowed to administer flu vaccinations to patients between 6 months and 18 years old, temporarily suspending a state law that prohibits pharmacists from administering immunisations to children.
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