The so-called preventive health lobby has gotten way out of control. These do-good professionals are not paid to accept that people get sick and die of all kinds of diseases that are far and away beyond their individual means of prevention. No matter how healthy the individual lifestyle, people get old, teeth decay, joints fail, organs break down, women have babies, influenza strikes, winter brings the common cold, simple cuts turn sceptic, accidents cause burns and broken limbs and much worse.

A society that refuses to recognise the universal responsibility to assist people financially when they get old, sick or injured is a morally bankrupt one.

Obviously, this article is a response to Malcolm Turnbull's leaked plans to flush Australians down the horrendous American privatised healthcare toilet. And it appears to be arguing the American attitude that every individual's health is the sum total of their own choices. Getting old, sick or injured simply makes you a medical consumer. Hello, medical neo-liberal corporatism.

Bah! Humbug! Keep these crappy Americans values away from Australia's shores. Is there a Pacific detention centre where we can put them?

I agree, Killarney, but with the caveat that we should either re-label the department the Ministry of Sickness, or do much more to encourage healthy living. What is certain is that governments are put there to provide essential services that all citizens can afford. Privatisation has been proven to always reduce services and raise the cost of them because the motive is profit, not service. They may be more efficient, but that is not always a good thing. If a private company can make a profit out of Medicare, then why isn't the government doing that? Imagine the benefit to the public purse if the government/citizens still owned the Commonwealth Bank! Instead of the paltry millions received in the sale, there'd be multi billion profits shoring up our balance of payments every year.

ybgirp

Yes, and you notice they only ever privatise the profitable government enterprises. And leave the taxpayer to keep financing the unprofitable ones.

It is important to ensure a minimum level health of all citizens. To this end I would assume that basic medical and dental care, and emergency services should be free of charge.

However, some services consume large amounts of money for very little benefit to the patient or society such as IVF treatment or exotic chemo/ surgery that at vast expense might extend a patient's life by a few months.

Similarly some requirements seem nonsensical. Why:
does a woman need to see a doctor every 3 months to renew a contraceptive prescription that has not changed in years:
Why does a doctor need to administer vaccinations, not a nurse.
Why are there unlimited free visits to a doctor when nurses can screen out most of the day to day niggles.

The rise in health care costs is out of control and the reasons are blindingly clear, just that no one has the balls to tackle them.

In third world countries like Indonesia, The Phillipines, when people get sick and need hospital treatment the families often have to sell their house, business in order to pay for the medical treatment.

The cost of health care in the USA is the leading caused of personal bankruptcy.