Healthcare
When the Prime Minister was under the gun for her ‘gushing’ speech to the US Congress on Q&A on Monday night, she said that Australians and Americans were very different kinds of people. The former believed in the ‘fair go’, whereas the later were individualistic and distrusted government.

To illustrate her point, she reached into the standard playbook of the Left and pointed to the different attitudes that prevail in each country regarding health care.
According to the PM, when Australians look at the debate that has raged in the US over ‘Obamacare’, they wonder what on earth Americans are going on about. Because here in this country, we know that ‘Medicare works’.
Continue reading "Medicare: Australia’s very sick sacred cow" »
This is the second in a series of essays adapted from the Centre for Policy Development book, More Than Luck: Ideas Australia needs now.
A Medicare credit card could make healthcare co-payments simpler and more affordable, writes Jennifer Doggett.
If you’ve ever been sick – really sick - in this country, you know that paying your medical bills isn’t cheap.

It’s also complex. Health insurance seldom covers the full cost of a procedure, so patients often leave hospital with a big bill waiting for them. Some of it can be claimed back on Medicare; some of it can’t. As well as being expensive, medical expenses are difficult to understand and a huge waste of time and effort. And all when you’re supposed to be resting and recuperating!
Our current system of health funding is failing. We spend more on health services every year and still many Australians miss out on the care they need.
Continue reading "A Medicare credit card could solve our health headache" »
Latest 2 of 60 comments
View all comments-
Colin Fraser says:
This is another one of those “Gee what a good idea” articles that are actually meaningless. I agree that we do things very wrong but the fact is that we have never really defined what “health care” is. What do we mean by health care? Minimizing bubonic plague and malaria… Read more »
-
persephone says:
Jennifer and, as you know, many of these people are never going to get better. They’re never going to stop needing the support, and they’re never going to be able to earn an income. So you’re proposing that we put further costs on the health system by letting chronically ill… Read more »
Many voters will only be tuning in to the election campaign this week but anyone paying even scant attention over the past month will have heard much of what Julia Gillard said when officially launching Labor’s campaign today.

Most of it was Gillard’s standard stump speech but it set down the lines on which the government wants to fight the final week on its strengths of broadband, healthcare, and voters’ increasing confidence in the Labor party’s powers of economic management. It was a low-risk, sober affair (no theme song audible on the TV coverage) as Gillard took the stage; Labor has had its fair share of distractions this campaign, thank you very much.
The knifing of Kevin Rudd and the poor standing of the Labor brand in NSW and Queensland have been matters of record that have dragged on the government’s campaign but Gillard took the opportunity of this set piece just days out from the election to talk positively about the future.
Latest 2 of 136 comments
View all comments-
Mouse says:
@ Ben - totally agree. I was a paramedic and cannot imagine trying to examine someone via the internet. Mmmmmm is that rash hot to the touch, moist, raised,???? Is that abdominal inflamation palpable, hard or soft, have reflective pain? Asking a Mum to explain symptoms from a screaming 2… Read more »
-
Shane From Melbourne says:
And that didn’t happen under the Liberal Party? Get real. Oh and three years is a long time compared to a decade under Howard. The corruption and cover ups set in long before Labor became federal government in 2007. Read more »
Barack Obama craves a historic presidency. Witness his pledge to single-handedly rescue the US health system in which millions lack insurance coverage. “I am not the first president to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last,” he announced in September.

Now, following a crucial Christmas Eve vote in the US Senate, the Democratic-controlled Congress is about to approve a major healthcare package.
Hurdles remain: the two houses must still confer to iron out differences. Public financing of abortion remains a flashpoint. But the near-certain outcome, sometime in January, is a bill on the president’s desk.
Continue reading "Is Obama digging his own grave on healthcare?" »
Latest 2 of 5 comments
View all comments-
Jacquie Butterfield says:
Some things are worth dying for. Read more »
-
Radical says:
I think Obama may be doomed come next election…Never a President lost favor so quickly with voters. I think Republicans will take the Senate and may even take the house in 2010 if Virginia’s election is any indication. But what really matters here is jobs. From January on expect Obama… Read more »
In an effort to regain the momentum on health care reform, President Barack Obama gave a very good speech to the Congress yesterday.

I liked three aspects of it in particular. First, it had passion. Obama made the moral case for universal health care that liberals have been waiting for. He quoted a letter from the late Senator Ted Kennedy that asserted that health care goes to ‘the character of our country’. The president’s remarks contained good lines and moving stories, including that of the Illinois man who lost his health insurance coverage during chemotherapy because he hadn’t reported gallstones that he hadn’t known about. It is remarkable that the most powerful country in the world is also the only advanced democracy to leave so many citizens uninsured.
Second, the speech showed strength. My principal criticism of Obama’s presidency so far has been his unwillingness to wade into debates, whether domestic or international, and use leverage and pressure to enforce his will.
Continue reading "Yes he can: Obama claims middle ground on health" »
Latest 2 of 20 comments
View all comments-
ihmn says:
Eric, the Republicans are hatred personified. They are supported by the same right wing Christian conservatives who walked up to a church and shot a doctor in the head, because they didn’t agree with him. They spread fear to their God-fearing, red-fearing constituents so that nothing ever changes. And as… Read more »
-
Razor says:
Does anyone want to attempt to answer my query with a factual answer? Read more »
This week in Parliament will be an important test of the Opposition’s commitment to both health reform and economic responsibility.

Right now we’re looking at making some of the biggest reforms to our health care system since the introduction of Medicare.
We can’t do that unless we make the hard decisions.
Continue reading "Coalition is being reckless on private health insurance" »
Latest 2 of 15 comments
View all comments-
tracey says:
I am a 72 year old lady whom is on a disabled pension. If you can afford private health cover then why not take it out. I have some crippling and disabling chronis disase problems that the public system has tried to manage but just does not have the resources.… Read more »
-
Sherlock says:
Yet another step in the class war that’s been waged by the Rudd Government since the day it took office. It’s refreshing this time to see the responsible minister actually admit it. Read more »
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" »
Latest 2 of 6 comments
View all comments-
Lance says:
Lets face if we decieve what we get. Electing Rudd has a price and the australian people are really paying for it. In 10 years KRudd/Roxon will be enjoying their pensions and not giving two hoots about the mess/debt they have left for future gnerations. Read more »
-

Paul Colgan says:
On the cost of reform vs the necessity of tax increases: GPs recently complained they were drowning in red tape - saying they were spending up to a quarter of their hours on paperwork rather than seeing patients. All this administrative work involves bureaucrats counting beans, too. It adds up… Read more »
Facebook Recommendations
Read all about it
Punch live
Up to the minute Twitter chatter
"We are the only animal that actively seeks out a zoo" Good line to start the day from @jasonthetin on reality TV http://t.co/gEZ4XOiB
@farrm51 I gave you a ridiculously Dr Seussy headline, Mal. Hope it kinda almost sorta represents the actual story http://t.co/uLOCrOtG
Recent posts
The latest and greatest
The humourless hysteria of the holier-than-thou
In I Spit On Your Grave, a young woman is gang raped in a remote woodland. She is beaten and tortured…
Cash mobs aren’t so flash
For a moment in the mid-naughties, they were the coolest of all cool social media-fuelled meme-thingos.…
If we wanted reality, we’d turn off the television
“Some day, far into the future, this here machine will become a powerful medium with the potential…
Nosebleed Section
choice ringside rantings
From: City vs country: What would you change your life for?
Dieter Moeckel says:
We made the tree change from Darwin to Wonbah more than 15 years ago. After fencing, a road, and couple of dams our money was gone. Super is enough to live comfortably. We have geese growing old and stringy the only one that made it to the pot committed Kamakazi by flying into a tree; the chooks are… [read more]From: I’d rather have a piece of toast than listen to crap lyrics
Erick says:
Led Zeppelin are responsible for my all-time favourite mixed metaphor: "There you sit, sit and stare, like a book on a shelf rusting." (Misty Mountain Hop) I laugh every time I hear it. Hmmm, I believe I've decided what to play on the way to work today. [read more]Gentle jabs to the ribs
No wuckin forries. These nuckin futs are tuckin fops
Well, puck me with a fitchfork. The F-word is apparently an acceptable part of Australian speech. That’s… Read more
Latest 2 of 173 comments
View all commentsAdd your comment