Tuesday, June 21, 2016

MEDICARE THREAT EXPOSED


Anyone  doubting  Medicare  is not under threat should  read  in  full  the  article by  a  former  head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet , John Menadue , in his blog , Pearls and Irritations ,under the heading : Bill Shorten Is Right : Malcolm Turnbull Is A Major Threat To Medicare

It starts with the statement:  Turnbull won't "privatise " Medicare , but he will destroy it .  Summarising , it says : the Coalition has been eroding Medicare from within for a decade and a half  since John Howard ; the vehicle for  this erosion  is private health insurance , facilitated by  the  government  paying it  $11billion  each year ; the process   of erosion of  Medicare  is proceeding rapidly , the danger and threat , outlined , increasing  every  year ; most of the emergency departments of public hospitals have been at bursting point  for years ; private health insurance is hollowing out Medicare  and the public  system from  within  ; the Minister for Health Sussan Ley has floated the idea that the Coalition  will introduce categories of " gold ","silver" and  "bronze" to help patients better understand  the many confusing  and dud policies that private health insurance offers ; the destruction of Medicare  is the endgame of vested  interests ; the Coalition  is facilitating  that process  with $11 billion annual subsidy despite  what Malcolm Turnbull  says ; the forms and external structure  of Medicare , the shell , may remain  but  its founding principles-fairness, universality, solidarity  and  efficiency - are  being  whittled  away. 
 
In other telling  points, Menadue saysfull inquiry into the private insurance industry  should be included in the ALP's proposed  royal commission into  dubious  practices of  banks Medibank  Private  is   being investigated by ACCC  for  serious breaches in  failing   to disclose  to its 3.9 million  policy holders  that it was slashing coverage of  pathology and radiology services , just when  it was  about to float on the  stock exchange ; the  ACCC  is soon to launch  cases against major hospital operators  for engaging in anti-competitive   conduct  to keep out smaller health  providers ; these revelations about  private health insurance are the  tip of a  dangerous iceberg, the end game  being  increased profits  and  the destruction  of  Medicare by  stealth .