2 CPD Points
The Mental Health Financial Safety Net
Mental health remains a pressing public policy issue for the Australian community. Australians experiencing mental ill-health today are supported by a wide range of systems and initiatives that together help millions fund the cost of mental health treatment each year. Together, these mechanisms – including Medicare, mental health helplines and private insurance schemes – form Australia’s collective financial safety net for mental health care. But how exactly these separate pieces of the safety net come together remains a complex and underexplored challenge. It is one where actuaries can contribute and provide independent advice in the design and management of equitable and sustainable schemes, services and products.
In this session, the panel including the lead Authors of the Institute’s Report, The Mental Health Financial Safety Net: Unifying Australia's Fragmented Systems will discuss the key challenges of the current system and recommend ways to strengthen it. Just as the function of a safety net is to catch people if and when they fall, a mental health financial safety net should enable a person experiencing mental ill-health to afford and access the appropriate treatment, support and care. This report is intended to help those responsible for its design and management, and those with the willingness to make it better, to question whether current available supports are sufficient, equitable and responsive to the needs of those they are intended to protect. Ultimately, this will support an effective safety net to help people who might experience mental ill-health to cope, adapt and recover.
Presented by Lucy Brogden, Cindy Lau, Hayley Caulfield, Felix Tang and Aidan Nguyen
5 November 2025
