published letters

Published in SMH on Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Despite the evidence that the $2.5 billion private health insurance rebate has minimal effect on public hospital waiting times (“Insurance rebates fail to ease pressure on public hospitals”, May 1), the continuing evidence that out-of-pocket costs, including payments for pharmaceuticals, are a serious burden for many patients, and the previous evidence that the Medicare safety net funding is going mainly to people in the wealthiest electorates, there is nothing yet from either major political party to address these issues.

It would seem that so far people on waiting lists and people who struggle to afford proper health care are invisible in the lead-up to this year’s federal election.

Dr Tim Woodruff

President

Doctors Reform Society