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 says a full 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 .
