Wed 30th Mar 2016

Progressive Equitable Public Hospital Policies Welcome

By: Dr Tim WoodruffVice president0401 042 619
And: Dr Con CostaVice President0418 400 309

DOCTORS REFORM SOCIETY

PROGRESSIVE EQUITABLE PUBLIC HOSPITAL POLICIES WELCOME

“The announcement today by the Australian Greens that the Private Health Insurance (PHI) rebate should be abolished and redirected into our under resourced public health system is welcome news for all Australians”, said Dr Tim Woodruff, Doctors Reform Society.

Under the Coalition the Medicare rebate is frozen, the public dental scheme is underfunded, and public hospitals are left to struggle whilst $8 billion a year is paid to the inefficient  profit driven PHI industry to enable those who can afford PHI to avoid public hospital queues. One level of access for the rich, another for the poor. This is grossly unfair and needs to change.

Also welcome is the support for re-institution of the Labor Party’s agreement with States on how public hospitals should be funded. This would return tens of billions of dollars to the States so that they can fund public hospitals adequately.

“Whilst it is encouraging to see the new Prime Minister talking about a tiny bit of extra money for the States to run public hospitals, the policies of underfunding the public system remain firmly in place”, said Dr Woodruff.