The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, August 1st, 2001. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795. CPA Central Committee: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "The Guardian": <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Webpage: http://www.cpa.org.au> Subscription rates on request. ****************************** Govt killing public health system The Government is spending tens of millions of dollars of taxpayers' money on its "closing the gap" advertising campaign. It is trying to persuade people to take out private health insurance. The campaign is part of the Government's strategy to gut the public health system, including Medicare, and boost the private health system. Private health is already being monopolised by a few major corporations. by Anna Pha The Government is deliberately creating a two-tier health system. One level that will provide services for those who can afford private health insurance and are able to pay for their care, and a second level, which will be a run-down skeleton of a public health system used by those on low incomes and the very poor. The public health system is being eroded and undermined on all fronts. Bulk billing is disappearing in many areas as big corporate medical centres sign up local doctors. Public hospitals are grossly under-funded and under-staffed, resulting in long waiting lists and jeopardising quality of treatment. Many essential medicines cost more. The Government has bent the knee to the big pharmaceuticals corporations, and has removed from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) several of its most experienced members. They have been replaced with individuals with vested interests who have connections to the drug industry. The PBAC plays a crucial role in deciding which medicines are on the Pharmaceuticals Benefits Scheme, and so are affordable to all. The Government has scrapped the national dental scheme and now, the poor and elderly cannot afford basic oral health care. Prime Minister Howard promised Medicare would remain, but it would be the Medicare that he and Health Minister Michael Wooldridge have in mind: a shadow of the current universal, bulk-billing, public system. Howard and Wooldridge are pushing Australia towards the US system of "managed health care", where the health insurance funds-not doctors and patients-decide what medical treatment will be given. It is a "for-profit system" in which people only get the treatment they can afford - not the treatment they need. In the US, where there is no Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the cost of routine diabetes, cholesterol and blood-pressure medications is around $1,000 per month! And when Howard talks of closing the gap, he means only the gap between doctor/hospital fees and the refund they are entitled to from the private health insurance companies. Most patients will find they still have to pay for blood tests, pap smears, X-rays, check-ups and all other basic health needs. It is intended that the remnants of the public health system will offer the most minimal of services to the most desperate in the community. This drive for privatisation is coming from the big private health insurance funds and the transnational medical corporations that are taking over family practices, radiology and pathology services and are building private hospitals. Their objective is not to care, cure, prevent diseases and save lives, but to make but to make big bucks for shareholders. One of the difficulties facing the Government and its corporate friends is the fact that the majority of Australians want Medicare. They have repeatedly voted with their feet and at the ballot box for Medicare. The Government and the health funds have used every tactic they can think of to scare people into private health insurance. These latest advertisements, as with previous publicly funded promotions, have been used to undermine Medicare by creating fear in people's minds over long public hospital waiting lists. Many who did take out private health insurance have continued to use the public hospital system, much to the chagrin of the Government, the private hospitals and the insurance funds. People turn to the public hospital system and Medicare when they find that, despite the huge insurance premiums, they are still heavily out of pocket after treatment. "Closing the gap" is an attempt to overcome this difficulty by reducing the amount of money people in a private hospital have to fork out after their treatment. The gap between what the health funds pay and the hospital and surgeons charge is being closed either by taking out more insurance or by agreements between insurance companies and those providing the medical treatment. These agreements are moving in the direction of the US-style "managed care" system. The Government continues to cry poor and talks of the need to balance budgets, despite there being no shortage of money when it comes to handing out $2.8 billion to prop up the private health insurance industry by way of the Government's 30 percent rebate on private health insurance premiums. This money, if redirected to public health care and services, could treat every person currently on a public hospital waiting list in Australia and re-instate the Commonwealth Dental Health program as well. It could also be used to keep up with the costs of newer generation pharmaceuticals, fund new teaching hospitals, and implement the much-needed upgrade of existing public hospitals. The money is there, but the political will is not. The Howard Government is committed to enriching shareholders and boosting profit margins. It has no interest in providing for the health and welfare of ordinary Australians. ********************************************************* -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
