"Illness caused hardship"

 

I refer to Brian Rickard's letter (C-M Sept 4) about private health insurance. If 70 per cent of people had private health insurance before the introduction of Medibank/Medicare, then 30% did not. Of those 30%, about half were covered by safety nets and half by nothing. In addition, many of the 70 per cent with private insurance had inadequate coverage and suffered hardship at times of illness.

 

That is the beauty of a universal system such as Medicare. Everyone is entitled to care according to his or her needs and contributes through the taxation system according to his or her ability to pay.

 

The Nimmo Report (1969) found hardship caused by health care costs was common, with people not being insured or being underinsured. The most common cause for imprisonment for debt in South Australia in 1973 was unpaid health care bills. This is why Medibank and then Medicare were designed.

 

Prime Minister John Howard plans to wind back the achievements of Medicare by undermining bulk-billing and the public health system and pushing people into the inequitable private health insurance industry.

 

It is up to the Australian people to stop him.

 

Tracy Schrader

The Courier-Mail

6 Sept 2003