Bupa Asia Pacific, Australia's largest privately owned health insurer, has delivered exceptional results for 2010. The company reported a 26 percent rise in after-tax profits as a result of pronounced increase in premium revenue coupled with a recovery in investment income.

Australia's public health system, Medicare, provides a substantial cover of healthcare treatment. However the public health system is currently under threat. There is a shortage of medical staff, hospital beds, and medical facilities such as brain scans. Patients under the public health system are therefore having to endure considerably long waiting lists. Medicare was introduced in 1983, allowing…