In the Sydney Morning Herald, an excellent article about the consequences of pouring money into the health system without any means of keeping the costs controlled.
While both sides of government compete in terms of their reputations as financial managers, little attention has been paid to the way the Coalition Government has tied the fortunes of taxpayers to rising health costs over which it has no effective control.
The government, in particular, has lost the view that to keep the health providers in line requires the consumer to fork out cash over and above the government subsidy. The more the provider charges, the more the consumer needs to pay to create pressure on the provider not to raise prices too far.
Then there is Medicare Plus, where the taxpayer meets 80 per cent of all health costs exceeding $300 for some families and $700 for others. This taxpayer contribution is 80 per cent of whatever the doctor or other health provider sees fit to charge. Somewhat unsurprisingly, there was a $1.4million blow-out of the scheme in Victoria in the month of June alone, according to one report.
The government doesn't see the problem ...
Remarkably, the Government suggests it has no responsibility for controlling increasing health costs. The federal Health Minister recently declared that "the Government doesn't believe in price control. We don't control the price of bread. We don't control the price of milk. We don't control the price of medical services."
They control the amount of money going to the medical industry. Simple, really.
