Support Roxons Health Reforms. Help Nicola Roxon stare down the opposing parties and independents on the Medicare surcharge levy among other things. Give this Minister time to produce the "whole plan"... by gads we have waited long enough and this is a rare chance.

Ie: We need a NO WRONG DOOR policy in all human services (Gov. agencies, business, community... to support the home) if we are to work to prevent more dis-health and protect civic wellbeing.

Great article. Well written and clear on the issues. Thank you Big-Time Gill Pierce.

Universal Rights is a inclusive right to be paid (properly) for (valuable) work and must be addressed without all the barriers, blank bullets, nullification's transfered by the red-herring spikes in costs freaking out the arguments against building a "whole" new health framework.

This ALP Federal Government plans to (by design) deliver a "whole" health reform pack... (If only ALL States, NGO's and Business could help do the same) Gads we have waited a decade for this moment to unify.

On another note,

Private Health Care is great but is not the baseline need of ALL citizens when they are stretching to pay phone bills, housing, food and transport, childcare, school/uni/extra fees plus, medication costs, and other things combined .... meaning everyone needs a flat baseline.

Tax is good if it can help community as well as encourage individuals... and markets to thrive.

In this way Private Health is (unfortunately a additional commodity)... look at the state of affairs in other countries.... it's so complex.

If the Private Health Industry cant find a way to ensure real health safety for all, and uses political short-sighted blackmail to raise their prices and fees than they truly don't deserve anymore creditability. (Look at Wall St or even the Shareholders, CEO and Board of Telstra to present another cooperate framework. It is too easy for thing like this to GO WRONG) .

With business and the NGO's we need to resolve the issues on this side of the industry problem.

more below;

What does a parent/career/peer/sister/brother/someone/health client do if they have family, or a small connection to family, but no close family or, when the family and or a community just cant afford (?) money, time, AND lacks the resource supports to help.

To us it may seem the person/family/community are doing alright but; where do they go IF they are not? (Hide the BREAKDOWNS or CRISIS?)...

Go to a private hospital... or to the warmth of someone's private house?

What do people (in all sectors) do, IF they cant afford health benefits (I lost mine) because all the issues round household and community health care means, we have a forever (aging) slack system and private fees (by half in their design) which get lost in the unbalanced loop distracted? A stream of Accountabilities are the real issue here.

We have the plain evidence everywhere, even in the movies.

Primary Health embeds the resources inside a community and on a "whole" government, business and community educational and prevention community approach.

Do we just make them (more people) invisible by allowing them too, to slip through the social net.

Not good social capital building this way either.

Enough is Enough!

Most careers/mothers/fathers/adults know the strain, the drain and the need for community health services.

CARE ABOUT THIS.

We need to community build.

Let's face the facts.

At the 1978 Alma Ata Conference people from the private and public health industry, alongside citizens, NGO's and governments world-wide signed a Health for All Declaration.

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Alma+Ata+Principles&spell=1

ONE WORLD ONE DREAM.

I focus you to the Number 1) descriptor (Health for ALL) and specifically Number 3 or is it 5) descriptor (The value we put on Health) 'affordability with the aim to SHARE access to service provisions' .

That was 30 years Ago. Gee's where are we now?

I bet Dr Who know's.

CLAP Uganda for it's role in ratifing both the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol at the UN this week.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=28312&Cr=treaty&Cr1=

I believe most Australians would like to care about Human Health Rights.

http://www.miacat.com/
.

This is my no. 1 fear to tell you the truth. I'm 40 yrs old and I have step-children but no children of my own, and I'm very much aware that I'm on my own when it comes to my old age. Touch wood, I'm very healthy and health-conscious and have exercised regularly, have no addictions and have had a healthy diet all my life, but I've also have been around for long enough to realise that even the health-conscious like myself can get a disability completely out of left field. Illnesses like cancer and MS seem to choose both healthy and unhealthy people alike.

I have private health insurance and do everything I can to keep illness and disability at bay, because being dependent and sick is my most worst nightmare - and being institutionalised along with that is too horrifying to think about for long.

I have dual Dutch nationality thanks to my parents and think, well, if I do happen to get some disease that means a slow, agonising and undignified death in the longterm, I can always take myself off to the Netherlands and get myself killed off before it gets too bad.

How does life go so fast? I think of old age and think only of poverty, disability, houses with all the windows closed even in summer and cranky old people who like to complain about everything under the sun. There must be happy and healthy old people, but why do we never see them or hear about them? Maybe then, old age wouldn't be so terrifying to those of us who haven't reached it yet.