Fri 6th Nov 2015
Two-tier health system
Published in the Age on Friday, November 6, 2015
The cuts to public hospital funding were brought in by Joe Hockey’s first budget (“Health cuts equal to closing two hospitals”, 5/11). They are Tony Abbott’s legacy. The purpose was to pressure states into supporting a rise in the GST and to further erode public confidence in public hospitals. This in turn leads to increased reliance on private hospitals.
The long-term agenda of the Coalition since John Howard has been to turn our public health system from a system for all into a safety net. With such a change the rich enjoy ready access to any health care. The poor are forced to rely on the under-resourced public system. The middle class will increasingly rely on the private system with all its unexpected and hidden costs and Australia will finally have achieved a Coalition dream, the Americanisation of our health system.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has told us he is lucky to be so rich. Will he act to grant the unlucky majority the same health care he can obtain, or will he, too, follow the Howard/Abbott agenda and consign that majority to second-rate care in a struggling public health system?
Tim Woodruff