Articles

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The inequities in the status of oral health in Australia are appalling because of a lack of political will and a resistance to recognising that all Australians deserve to receive adequate dental care. This resistance is rooted in the elitism of those in power, the belief that if one can’t earn an adequate income, then second rate access to dental care is one’s lot.

The money to improve access is available, whether from the inequitable inefficient $12 billion private health insurance (PHI) subsidy and associated tax losses, the putative savings of $100 billion over 10 years which the Treasurer says would be the cost of Labor tax initiatives, or general revenue used to invest in the future as we are doing with our $50 billion submarine contract. Read more

On an almost weekly basis now I’m asked as a medical specialist to write a letter to help a patient be accepted by Centrelink as unable to work. My letter and that of the patient’s general practitioner are then assessed by staff with limited or no medical training.

Many have their request declined and are therefore required to attend Centrelink fortnightly, and to apply for jobs they can’t do – even if such jobs exist.

One man had his request accepted only after he was admitted to hospital, despite hobbling on a walking stick, and taking narcotic analgesics.

Something is wrong with how we try to help our struggling and most vulnerable fellow Australians. Read more

The intellectual stimulus for this article was the book ‘Utopia for Realists’   by Rutger Bregman. The emotional stimulus (tears and anger) was the movie ‘I, Daniel Blake’ directed by Ken Loach.

In 1970, conservative republican US President Richard Nixon introduced a health bill into the American Congress. It passed but was defeated in the Senate. He didn’t realise it was a health bill, nor did many of his fellow politicians. It was called the Family Assistance Plan, a guaranteed income for families with children, not adequate to bring the income up to the poverty line, but substantially more than was previously on offer.

It required the breadwinner to accept work if available. Thus it was targeted, conditional, and inadequate by itself to eliminate poverty, but it was a huge change in thinking from a conservative leader in the United States. It came with this impressive rhetoric

 “Initially this new system will cost more than welfare, but unlike welfare this is designed to correct the condition it deals with and thus lessen the long range burden and cost.”

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The Medicare rebate freeze is here to stay. Despite the Federal Government announcing it had heard the electorate expressing their concerns about Medicare at the election the Prime Minister is ploughing on, claiming that savings must be made, that people should pay a copayment if they can, and anyway the bulk billing rate is going up so patients aren’t missing out.

Do savings need to be made?

Countries increase their spending on health care as they get richer. In the last decade Australia has increased spending on health care from 8.8% of GDP to 10%, a figure very slightly above the median for OECD countries (1).  Our budget deficit is lower than almost every OECD country.

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A FAIR GO OR SHOULD WE TAX PEOPLE WHO ARE UNLUCKY ENOUGH TO BE SICK?

Do our leaders believe in a fair go? The Prime Minister has stated that he and Lucy have been lucky and observed that “there are taxi drivers that work harder than I ever have and they don’t have much money”. Read more

The Doctors Reform Society are proud to sign a new open letter to Australian parliamentarians asking for significant commitments to carbon pollution reduction. This has been written as we approach the important UN conference in Paris in December 2015. We are but one of 51 diverse Australian organisations signing this letter.

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Last year’s budget was an easy target for those concerned about our health system. Now the Government is smarter. Instead of attempting to drive a truck through the very concept of a universal access health system, it has attempted to avoid confrontation by much more stealthy policies.

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