Government subsidies have not kept up with increasing fees charged by medical professionals or the increasing cost of medicines. Data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows that out-of-pocket payments increased four-and-a-half times faster than government funding in 2014–15. This has led to large numbers of patients skipping treatment or medicine. Australian out of pocket health expenses are the third highest in the developed world. Since around 2010 Private Health Insurance (PHI) companies have introduced Preferred Provider contracts with healthcare providers. Whilst seemingly a win win scenario at the start the PHI companies now have a great deal of control over these providers. The introduction of 1- Differential rebating 2- HICAPS and access to members data 3- Patient steering  have led to a high level of discontent amongst healthcare providers. The Senate enquiry into the value and affordability of private health insurance conducted 2017–18 led to a host of recommendations to Parliament to end these practices however as of the time of writing the minister for Greg Hunt has not taken any action. The ACCC have also looked at this matter without recommending any action be taken. The impact of these PHI policies has been overwhelmingly to place financial pressure on healthcare providers and reduce the choice of healthcare provider to the patient as rebate amounts differ depending on which provider the patient attends. This has led to a number bankruptcies in the Dental field. The Australian Dental Association [ADA] set quality and care standards for the industry, but provide no standardised pricing schedule for services and treatment. Large corporate dental practices, which have a wide footprint, often have check-up and service KPIs. As there is no standard pricing schedule, this can quite often leave patients with large expenses, and on occasion unnecessary treatment. It also leads to cases where identical treatment plans can have drastically different pricing. Further relaxation of standards has led to training of dental auxiliaries in some dental procedures. This "dentistry by the back door" further disrupted the dental profession and led to an inevitable lowering of standards. The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) subsidises certain prescribed pharmaceuticals. The PBS pre-dates Medicare, being established in 1948. It is generally considered a separate health policy to 'Medicare'. The PBS is now administered by the Department of Human Services Insurance, with input from a range of other bodies such as the Pharmaceutical Benefits Pricing Authority. State and Territory Governments also sometimes administer peripheral health programmes, such as free dentistry for school students and community sexual health programmes. With some exceptions, such as the Teen Dental Plan, dental care is generally not covered by Medicare for all Australians, although the various States and Territories provide free or subsidised dental services to certain categories of the population, such as Health Care Card and Pensioner Concession Card holders.