John Stewart Deeble (9 July 1931 – 5 October 2018) was an Australian academic,

health economist Health economics is a branch of economics concerned with issues related to Health care efficiency, efficiency, effectiveness, value and behavior in the production and consumption of health and healthcare. Health economics is important in dete ...

and the architect of Medicare in Australia.

Early life

A native of

Wimmera The Victorian government's Wimmera Southern Mallee subregion is part of the Grampians region in western Victoria. It includes most of what is considered the Wimmera, and part of the southern Mallee region. The subregion is based on the social ...

, Deeble grew up near

Donald, Victoria Donald is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on the Richardson River, at the junction of Sunraysia Highway and Borung Highway, in the Shire of Buloke. At the , it had a population of 1,472. History The town is named after William Donald ...

, and left school aged 15. His first job was a clerical position at the Peter McCallum Institute in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. While working he completed a Commerce Degree at

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state of Victoria. Its ...

and a Diploma of Hospital Administration at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

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Career

In 1965 he started a research position at the Institute of Applied Economic Research at the University of Melbourne. While working there, Deeble and Richard Scotton coauthored proposals for what became known as Medicare. He was Special Adviser to the ministers for health in the Whitlam and Hawke governments, chairman of the planning committees for both Medibank and Medicare and a commissioner of the Health Insurance Commission for 16 years. He was Patron of the Deeble Institute for Health Policy Research, the research arm of the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association. In 1996, in recognition of his service to community health in the fields of health economics and health insurance policy development, he was awarded the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

. He also served as First Assistant Secretary in the Commonwealth Department of Health, Founding Director of the

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) is Australia's national agency for information and statistics on Australia's health and welfare. Statistics and data developed by the AIHW are used extensively to inform discussion and policy ...

, and from 1989 to 2005, Adjunct Professor of Economics at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

. He was also a

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

consultant on healthcare financing in Hungary, Turkey and Indonesia, and from 1995 to 2005, an adviser to the government of South Africa. He died in Canberra on 5 October 2018, aged 87. His funeral was held in Canberra on 19 October and he was buried privately in

Woodend, Victoria Woodend () is a town in Victoria, Australia. The town is in the Shire of Macedon Ranges local government area and is bypassed to the east and north by the Calder Freeway (M79), located about halfway between Melbourne and Bendigo. At the , Wood ...

.Canberra Times, Death notice, 13 October 2018
. Retrieved 17 October 2018

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deeble, John 1931 births 2018 deaths People from Donald, Victoria Health economists Officers of the Order of Australia 20th-century Australian economists 21st-century Australian economists Medicare Australia Academic staff of the Australian National University