Everyone in Australia is entitled to adequate hospital care. Every child in Australia is entitled to an adequate education. I believe that is true for people all over the world. We can’t pay for people all over the world, but we can pay for those in Australia. The money for public institutions comes in the form of taxes. We don’t get something for nothing so adequate public services conflict with the drive for lower taxes.

The strategy of both the government and the opposition to keep taxes low is to silence the voices of the more articulate and educated people who would protest if they were to have inadequate education for their children and inadequate hospitalisation for themselves. The strategy is carried out by subsidies to the middle class. I am part of the middle class and get a subsidy for my health insurance. My doctor has suggested a colonoscopy, and I will get it at a private facility where I don’t have to wait so long and the atmosphere is more pleasant as the staff is not as harassed. Everyone who needs that procedure should have the same treatment. If all we had to depend on were public hospitals there would be more protests and government would be impelled to provide better hospitalisation for all. I would prefer to pay the actual cost for my health insurance and have my subsidy go to the public hospitals to benefit those who have to use them. Better yet would simply be to have adequate public hospital care for everyone.

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=14913 points out the unfairness in our educational system where the level of aid to private education perpetuates and increases the inequality between public and private education. The same strategy keeps down protests for our inadequate public school system. The chattering classes in general send their children to private schools so many don’t have any experience with the inadequacies of the public schools.

To make Australia fairer eliminate subsidies for health insurance and private education, and tax enough to pay for adequate hospitalisation and education. All we need is the will.

Increase taxes so that fringe parties can blackmail a hung parliament into spending our money on your minority agenda?

Sounds like a democracy bypass to me.

Dear David F.,

My husband and I have always had private health cover
and ambulance cover for our family. Now that our children
have grown up - and have families of their own -
they pay for themselves.
We still maintain the cover for ourselves.
And we intend to continue doing so. I've been in and out of
hospitals, and as a matter of fact I'm due for a review
colonoscopy in a few months time.

I would willingly pay extra taxes - to help others in need
and to make this a fairer system all round. If increasing my
taxes by a little would mean a better education and better
health cover for everyone in this country - I'm willing to
do my part

Dear spindoc,

My compliments. You have chosen your pseudonym well. Calling adequate education and hospitalisation for all Australians a minority agenda is a triumph of spindoctoring.

David, you don't want "adequate", you want "more pleasant surroundings".

As the Grattan Institute report I cited in another thread points out, it is that expectation of people like yourself that is one of the largest contributors to a projected massive blowout in Government deficits over the next 10 years.

If you and those like you were prepared to settle for "adequate", the problem would be much more manageable.

What's adequate?

How long should people be forced to wait for non-life threatening procedures?

How many beds per room? Is privacy and comfort adequate? Is it more than adequate?

The way I see it there is so so so so so so so so sos os os oso sos os so sos os sossos so s

much waste in the whole Health sector.

I see it every time I visit the drs. I get bulk billed, people like me should have to pay. Drs do scans just to be sure, when I think it's unlikely there is any need, and they admit to such. They hand out scripts and offer medical certificates for however long I want for viral infections.

One doctor gave me antibiotics without even so much as looking in my throat.

Don't get me started on Obstetrics.

The private doctors schedule their payments to allow a higher net yearly medical expenses payout. They ask for constant ultrasounds that aren't really necessary, bi-monthly visits for the entire term of a normal pregnancy, send patients to private ultrasound facilities that somehow charge 4 times what the public one does, using 3D imaging and all sorts of stuff, encourage c-sections and induce mothers who have understandably had enough of being pregnant, and to ensure the birth fits into their personal schedule.

What is adequate?

The place up the road is giving free flu vaccines for all. Why?

We encourage people to expect free, limitless cost, zero wait medical facilities, when really they should look after their own health better in the first place for a start and then pay what they can afford each step of the way.

Why would people care about their health when they are told they can take a pill for free at the expense of the guvment for every little ailment, and have constant scans just to be sure that random pain they get every now and then isn't a tumor.