It would be great to have private health insurance in Australia.

The problem is that we don't!

The so-called "private" is not really private.
The "private" companies all follow strict directions from government and worse, when there are claims, some of it comes from Medicare anyway (which is why I couldn't claim even on my "private" insurance), they only pay the "gap".

We should be able to take a health insurance according to whatever terms and conditions are agreed between us, the insurer and nobody else!

Waiting time for operations etc.

To compare before and now one would need accurate records on numbers of doctors, nurses, available hospital beds, and population etc before the changes as opposed to now.

Like nearly everything in Australia the various Governments have created the problem by closing hospitals and reducing staff.

Possibly to force people on to paid medical schemes.

If SteelRedux and Greens would like to propose a way to provide timely, quality, medical and hospital services for all Australians without a private system then they should be welcomed to go right ahead.

Maybe if the gravy train that Whitlam was instrumental in getting going was derailed and expensive, bothering quangos like the Australian Hunan Rights Commission were put out with the trash. Getting rid of the Senate and cutting out the redundancy of two over-stuffed national broadcasters would help.

Queenslanders were doing well before being forced into Medicare and it was being paid for by public lotteries.

Well folks some interesting replies.

I recently had a person I had sold a business to say he felt obliged to pay for health insurance because Medicare should be left for those who need it most. He was quite taken aback that I didn't have private health insurance and intimated that I was in some way taking advantage of the system. How have these attitudes started to become prevalent?

Australians have traditionally been very supportive of our universal health care system despite the conniptions it causes our budding neocons. However I'm sensing a steady erosion of the ethic that gave us such a egalitarian programme and I think it is detrimental to this nation and what we have traditionally stood for.

Somehow many Australians have taken up the neocon mindset of user pays and bugger our responsibilities to others. The reason why a system like Medicare is still strong is sheer weight of numbers supporting it. However it is harder for corporations to leverage the kind of profits they make in the US. They will divide and charge through the roof if they get the chance and some of us are sleep walking into just such a regime.

If the private health system has lengthened rather than shortened waiting lists in this country then why should it attract billions in subsidies. Time for a rethink.

Dear SteeleRedux,

«bugger our responsibilities to others.»

First, we already pay taxes to support the poor, including with their medical needs. I did not suggest that this should stop, only that we should be able to pay for our own medical expenses and/or arrange with other parties any health-cover for ourselves and our families that is appropriate to our personal situation and without any relation to government (no subsidies either).

No self-respecting person would accept money that was taken from others by force - but let those who do not respect themselves continue to do so.

Second, why do you call this "responsibilities"?

"Responsibility" can only relate to my former actions and commitments, so unless I have harmed others or otherwise committed myself, the question of responsibility to help does not arise. Yet I still want to help due to the kindness of my heart. If you deprive people of their ability to express the kindness of their heart, then sure enough you would get the "bugger" response and other negative attitudes.

SR,

The benefits of a private health system are similar to that of private schools. It gives private patients the choice of quicker and more comfortable procedures at a price, and with the Medicare subsidy for private treatment as a fraction of the cost of the same treatment in the public sector, it reduces the cost of medical care to the taxpayer.