Articles

First published: Thursday, July 24, 2014

THE REAL AGENDA: PRIVATISATION AND SAFETY NETS, NOT COPAYMENTS.

Much has been written about the proposed copayments for health care. It has surprised many that the Federal Government has pushed so hard so fast to attack bulk billing and to increase user pays funding of health services. This has led to a superficial unity of resistance to the changes. But these proposals need to be seen in both a historical perspective and alongside the other less publicised proposals and suggestions from the Government.

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First published: Thursday, June 12, 2014

Killer copayments and murder of Medicare

First published: Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Dental Health: Roadblocks to Progress

A four-point plan for advancing equitable dental reform

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First published: Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Healthcare: GP co-payments not the real answer – there are far better ways to put budget back in shape
By: Tim Woodruff

The recent proposal to introduce a co-payment for GP visits has ignited debate about the financing of – and principles underlying – the health system.

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First published: Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Making patients pay out-of-pocket for visits to the doctor is cruel and discriminatory, having most effect on the disadvantaged, writes Tim Woodruff.

A proposal being considered by the Abbott Government to introduce copayments for GP visits is economically dumb in addition to being heartless.

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First published: Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Recently a patient came to me for treatment of her rheumatoid arthritis. She’s 42, a single mum with 2 kids, surviving on a pension which she is about to lose as her youngest is 8 years old and budget changes mean she has to work or go on Newstart. Her teeth are terrible. For the last 3 years she has required antibiotics for tooth infections about every 6 months. I can treat her arthritis and there’s a good chance I can get her well enough to go to work, but only a modest chance I can return her to a pain free existence (and that will be with prescription drugs for years). She is one of the 400,000 people on waiting lists for public dental care. Because of her serious dental disease her risk of heart disease may be up to twice normal. There’s even weak evidence suggesting dental disease may play a role in causing her rheumatoid arthritis. Now that she has a chronic disease she can get $4000 of dental work done under the Chronic Disease Dental Scheme (CDDS). Better late than never. Even without that she may be one of those set to benefit from the recent Federal budget announcement of a $350 million package over 3 years to address the appalling waiting list for public dental care.

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First published: Sunday, April 29, 2012

The consequences of over diagnosis, over investigation, and over treatment in health care systems has dire consequences not only for those individuals subjected to such treatment, but to the rest of the population who look to their health care system for appropriate treatment or management. Thus, as has been said by others, instead of rational use of resources, many are subjected to rationing because politics limits the amount of public funding available and income levels prevent many accessing private care. As one would expect, rationing predominantly affects those who are not rich enough to use the private system or travel from areas of workforce shortage to areas of oversupply.

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First published: Monday, February 20, 2012

The biggest threat to Private Health Insurance (PHI) and the private hospital industry is a strong public hospital system which has the confidence of the public. The carrot and stick approach of successive governments playing with the PHI rebate and Medicare Levy Surcharge has made little difference to PHI uptake.

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