quote:

Originally posted by nicknack i have a saying 'get private care you pov'

Why should i get private health cover, Private health insurance subsidies do not relieve the pressure on public hospitals, they end up costing taxpayers more for very little benefit.

1 in 6 beds in a hospital is occupied by someone under the age of 65. So that equates to 16% of people are under 65.
So with this figure what has johnnie suggested he wants to raise the rebate from 30% to 35% for people aged 65 to 69 years and to 40% for people older than 70 years. The rebates will begin in April 2005 at a cost of $445.5 million over four years if the Senate approves the plan.

Yep, 445.5 million dollars, think of where that funding can be distributed to provide equality for all people. Why not abolish it, its been estimated that the rebate costs the g'ment well over one billion a year. The quiestion that should be asked is where does this money come from, taken straight out of the funding for public hospitals!


And dont get me started on the doctors in private health, DHS in the mid 90's indicated that medical specialists preferred private hospitals & private health insurance because they could then charge "substantially more than the remuneration recieved as visiting medical officers in public hospitals."

"Mr Jones, i can book you in for a knee arthroscopy for tuesday, no waiting lists, by the way it will cost you $2,500. Its not a necessary procedure, i just need to do it to rule out any underlying causes for your pain."

Not only are they allowed to charge whatever they like, there has been an increase on procedures that have been found to be unnecessary. So next time your doctor wants to perform something, ask yourself are you funding his next holiday

And then there is the case of occupying a bed in a public hospital as a private patient, what will i get, maybe a single room, oohh there may be a vase on the cabinet next to my bed, but you have to remember the care you get is the same as 3 other people on that ward (seeing as nurses have 4 patients). Is this really a benefit??

Now, how many times do people end up out of pocket, i see it all the time, they are not covered for things outside the hospital, so they end up staying longer in the hospital eating up more resources, time and money.

Public vs Private hospitals, having worked in both i can sit here and say that i will choose public anyday. Its a known fact that public hospitals have better specialties such as ICU and emergency. Alfred hospital, public has the best trauma center. Royal Melb, public has the best ICU ect ect. What people need to understand that all teaching hospitals are public ones. So ten years previous when your surgeon was training he done it in a public hospital. Whats makes him so special "now" coz now he chooses to only work in a private hospital

So here i am paying for private health insurance, i will most definately end up out of pocket when a procedure is done. The doctors can charge whatever they like as there are no restrictions. The new rebate changes that johnnie wants to bring in will end up costing 445.5 million dollars over how many years, add that to the other funding that goes into it all and it eventuates to one billion a year.
So i ask again, why would i choose private health insurance?