DOCTORS REFORM SOCIETY

DRS

Media Release

May 13, 2008

 

Budget Health Care: A Welcome Change In Direction?

 

 “Suggestions that there will be further money for public hospitals in today’s budget on top of the $1 billion already promised will go some way to restoring the 50/50 Federal/State split of funding which the previous Coalition Government allowed to degenerate to a 42/58 split,” said Dr Tim Woodruff, President, Doctors Reform Society.

“The raising of the Medicare Levy Surcharge threshold is also a small signal that the grossly inefficient private health insurance (PHI) industry will not have everything it demands as it sucks the heart out of the public system,” said Dr Woodruff.

“It’s a tiny step in the right direction. It will take a maximum of $120 million in taxes from the PHI industry. That leaves them with an extraordinary sum of about $3 billion, and the vested interests are still whinging.”

“Ten years age we predicted that this taxpayer support for PHI would fail to decrease premiums, fail to unload the public system, and lead to a decline in public hospital access. We were correct.”

We now predict that this minor change will lead to the industry demanding approval for higher premiums, however unjustified, and that there will be no obvious increased burden on public hospitals because those who drop out will be low users of hospital care”.