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" »

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.

Continue reading "Gillard does the vision thing" »

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?" »

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" »

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" »

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" »