pommie bastard

Yet more Australians views on health care.


AUTOMATIC inflation rises each year for private health insurance premiums (12/9) means John Howard is directing even more public money to the private health sector.

The 30 per cent private health insurance rebate, paid for by all taxpayers, applies to all private health premiums and even more taxpayers' money is going to go towards the higher adjusted premiums.

The money will have to come from somewhere within the health budget and struggling public hospitals or primary healthcare services will inevitably be targeted.

Howard has broken another promise but this now barely registers with commentators.

Doctors are abandoning bulk billing in droves but no one seems to suggest that inflation adjusted bulk billing rates be considered as a fairer alternative.

The Labor Party criticises this sop to the private health sector but shamefully has the same policy in place in relation to the rebate. Wealthier Australians continue to receive government welfare to help them pay for private health insurance, amounting to about $2.5 billion a year.

Howard is destroying Medicare. Labor has offered no alternative and our health system is deteriorating into a two-tiered system where the wealthy get care and the rest of us have to put up with inferior healthcare.
Dr Theo van Lieshout
Highgate Hill, Qld

Marlo

pommie bastard

I understand the problems in UK my wife is a nurse she worked in Hospitals and was a District Nurse there , also worked in Hospitals here .
What you take for granted in UK costs here , plus no home care at all without payment .My mate took his son to Joondalup Hospital took 6 hours to get a doctor to look at him after they had found him flat out in toilet , had to take door of toilet off to get him out.
Some of the country people here travel up to 2 days to get to Hospital , there is no doctors at all except on call at most country Hospitals here.
To get a doctor out at night will cost $120 , an ambulance $440 if you have no cover a lot do not.By the way wards close down here also for weeks on end in order to save money, and there are waiting lists . You are going on about 15minutes travel to Hospital thats close compared to what most travel here.
My wife got so pissed off with hospitals here she now works for Health Direct phone line (same as NHS direct), she tells people she will call for an ambulance only to be told they have not got the cash and can not get there as they live on their own , these are very ill people she feels sad but can not help.
No health sevice is perfect but at lest in Uk we both had 6 months full sick pay per year , here only 2 weeks per year for everyone which means any ill health could hit you in the pocket too.I think people whinge far too much about health care in UK remember you only pay once in NI not twice like here.
Best Wishes



A WANNANUP pensioner has been left without bottom teeth since October and faces waiting up to two years to have his treatment finished.

Dawesville MLA Arthur Marshall raised the plight of Ron Andrews, an insulin dependent diabetic, in Parliament last week and called for more funds for the public dental system.

Mr Marshall said Mr Andrews' physical and mental wellbeing was suffering. It was a disgrace that he could be left in this situation for such a long time.

He said Mr Andrews had his bottom teeth removed last October at the Halls Head Dental Clinic but a denture could not be fitted because lumps, known as a Taurus growth, had to be removed.

An oral surgeon said that because Mr Andrews was insulin dependent, removal of the two lumps would require an overnight stay in hospital. But there were no beds.

Mr Andrews was originally told his treatment would be finished by March. But since then the old Perth Dental Hospital in Goderich Street has closed and the new $38 million Oral Health Centre in Nedlands referred him to Royal Perth Hospital for the surgery.

He has now been told he may have to wait two years for the treatment.

dpr21

This debate could go on for ages and is akin to the "UK vs AUS" thread that now has over 90 postings. However my views; and before I continue I might add that I too am in healthcare (UK/Aus) and my sister and best mate are both Consultants in the NHS in the UK.

There is no perfect system either in Australia or the UK. In an ideal world we would all have easy access to equal high quality healthcare on the basis of need. Healthcare varies here as much as it does in the UK (postcode/geograhical area). The question of how people think healthcare should be funded depends, to a degree on your political persuasion (e.g. socialist vs capitalist) and is certainly as much political/social as it is medical.

Probably the major paradigm shift required for most migrants from the UK is that you will need to pay at the point of access - e.g. going to the GP is not free although depending on the charges you will get all or a portion of it back from Medicare (State). Increased costs and other factors are driving up costs so in many instances there is a 'gap' between your outlay and what you recover from Medicare. Unfortunately here, as in the UK, there are some services that you will not get or will have to wait a long time for unless you access them via private means - i.e. you are going to have to pay more. However, I had exactly the same problem in the UK. Trying to directly compare the two systems is like comparing apples with oranges. If you earn a half decent salary you pay more NI (UK) than you do Medicare (Aus)although even this changes when you earn stacks (probably no longer relevant though). However, if you add the costs of treatment to Medicare then depending on circumstances/ situations you may end up paying far more in Aus (but in some circumstances waiting far less time).

The one thing that Pommie is absolutely correct about is you will pay. Because you pay 'more directly' in Aus you are likely to notice it more. In terms of direct costs e.g. Medicare + Private Cover, + gap (if any), I pay a lower percentage of my salary than NI + the equivalent private cover in the UK costed me. However, this is not true for large sections of the population, particularly if they don't have private cover. I believe, whether here or in the UK, without private cover you are increasingly likely to get 'sub-optimal' care. I suspect Pommie's arguement relating to the standard of public sector care would, ceteris paribus, be true if only the public sector existed and all health taxes/monies no matter what their source went into that system. That is not the case so a simplistic direct comparison doesn't stand up - I along with probably most others do not know how much of the rest of my tax dollar funds health etc etc etc!

There is no answer to this problem. I could argue, for example, that I have paid tax for over 20 years and apart from a few free GP visits in the UK have NEVER used the public system so I am subsidising others. However, I believe that is what society is about and I have a duty to help - who knows, I might be hit by a bus tomorrow and will get more than my 'share' back? Hopefully though I'll continue to pay tax and unfortunately need to purchase pvt cover (much like insurance)

DPR

pommie bastard

All good pionts just add that NI pays for full Health care, penions,unemployment and sick pay .Medicare just gives limited Health care , everything else in Australia is means tested.