Health Reform

You might have heard all the hoo-haa last week about the NDIS, or national Disability Insurance Scheme.

In simple terms, it’s like a Medicare for disability. Not many of us use an ICU, but we all pay quite happily, through Medicare, and should the need arise, ICU care is just an ambulance ride away. Disability care and support isn’t that “neat”.

Currently, if you have a broken neck, are incontinent, need a wheelchair and an adapted vehicle, live in NSW and you acquired your disability in a car smash, your personal care support needs will be, for the most part, covered. As will your physio, speech and occupational therapy, your continence supplies (and the personal help you need for bowel and bladder care), someone to give you a shower each day, and even your wheelchair will be supplied, generally in a reasonable timeframe.

Continue reading "Disability insurance scheme: I’ll believe it when I see it" »

For three months Australia’s world-class health system refused to treat Thornlands’ Della Johnson who has a rare vascular disease of the brain called moyamoya. The reason: she’s a Queenslander. More precisely, she lives on the Southside of Brisbane, sees doctors on the north and needs an operation interstate.

If she lived in New South Wales, she would now be cured; months post-operation and free of her horrible symptoms. But she comes from a smaller Australian state which lacks a surgeon trained in this ‘one in a million’ procedure.

Her battle for life-saving treatment captured media attention nationwide because it exposed a flaw in our world-class federated health system. Australians are divided into eight public hospital systems and scores of hospital regions. Those boundaries can mean delayed health care and unquantifiable mental anguish for those trapped in unfortunate postcodes.

Continue reading "Cross border health issues must be resolved" »

Structural reform of Australian healthcare financing can cut inequity and promote universal choice as well as universal service delivery.

In a society as wealthy as ours it’s understandable that Australians support universal access to healthcare.

But accepting this principle and the current one-size-fits-all structure of Medicare are different. Under the current structure only those who can voluntarily afford to opt out of the system have real choice.

Continue reading "Medicare needs a shot in the arm" »

The Federal Government has branded it “historic” and “a major achievement”, but big questions hang over Julia Gillard’s multi-billion dollar hospital reform deal.

Here are the answers to some of the most likely questions:

HOW DOES IT WORK?
The deal turns on two key things from the Commonwealth: money, and national control. More of one, less of the other.

Continue reading "Hospital reform: Your questions answered" »

The sudden resignation of Murray-Darling Basin Authority chair, Mike Taylor, was a reminder that with complex national reforms, there’s many a slip between cup and lip.

Two schools of thought emerged. One cast Mr Taylor’s departure as a setback because a strong advocate of a healthy river system had been muzzled. The other held that an enviro-fundamentalist who saw the good as the enemy of the great, had bowed out clearing the way for a workable deal for the river.

Actually both are true.

Continue reading "Julia’s Year of Living Rigorously" »

One of the magnums of Centenary of Federation Shiraz sitting down in the Lodge cellar would be a suitable drop for the Prime Minister to uncork to mark the signing of his health agreement. Therese is stuck in London thanks to the volcano so Kevin Rudd can kick off his work shoes and celebrate this deal - and it’s a big one - in style. In fact he could kick off more than just his shoes and do his Hugh Grant impression in celebration like in this video:

He ought to enjoy the celebrations because when he wakes up he’ll remember the deal he has struck, which makes him responsible for the delivery of healthcare services in Australia.

So when the disgruntled son or daughter of an elderly patient decides to call talkback radio in their city because mum has been on a trolley for six hours in the Emergency department, they’ll be wondering what Kevin Rudd is going to do about it.

Continue reading "Pop the cork on a few, PM, but the work’s only starting" »

The tax tables that tell you whether you’re better or worse off under the federal budget may need a new category this year. Alongside the “Couple, 60/40 income split, 2 kids” we’ll need “Couple, 60/40 income split, 2 kids, family smokes a total of 30 a day” because reports today suggest the government may mount an unprecedented tax assault on smokers to fund health reform.

As in most other countries the prevalence of smoking in Australia goes down as you go up the income scale. There’s no getting around this: a tax hike on smokers targets the most disadvantaged sections of society.

To which many non-smokers from all walks of life will respond: So what? It’s an offensive habit that causes revolting diseases which non-smoking taxpayers must pay to treat because chuffers don’t have the will power to quit.

Continue reading "Smokonomics" »

Governments of either persuasion don’t like it when they don’t get their own way in the Senate. 

However, in recent days the Rudd government has taken the levels of whingeing, moaning and sulking about so called ‘Senate obstruction’ to new levels. No doubt this is all part of a deliberate pre-election strategy, seeking to justify the government’s failings and perhaps even the need for a double dissolution election.

No less than five senior Ministers fronted a press conference last week accusing the Senate of the worst obstruction in 30 years, while the Prime Minister shouted ‘get out of our way’.

Continue reading "The Senate protects us from bad government" »

No, you won’t see dolphins cavorting through the surf if you stare at it long enough.

Enough to make your eyes bleed, isn’t it? The model forms part of the submission by the geniuses at Accenture to the National Health and Hospital Reforms Commission - you know, the crowd who released a report containing 123 recommendations on how to give a Prime Minister a headache yesterday.

The report is worth a read, and as Leo Shanahan described it yesterday, a much-needed blueprint for healthcare reform in this country. Some of it is mum-and-apple-pie agreeableness on better outcomes for rural and remote communities, or woolly stuff like this:

Continue reading "Here we go again with next to nothing on health reform" »