We are very lucky here in Australia, we experience some of the best rates of public health care in the world. But we have a very sick public hospital system.
There have been many horror stories about the problems in the hospitals to the extent that it is safer to be healthy when you get into a hospital or you might catch something else. But the only time you are in a hospital is when you are sick!
I am sure the morale in hospitals must be very poor, funding issues, bad media, staff shortages and enormous lists for patients waiting for non-critical surgery and emergency rooms.
Something I don’t understand about public health care is that we pay taxes to the federal government and then the federal government gives money to the state governments, which distribute it to the area health services which then funds our hospitals. Well, this is what I can understand about how the funding system works from how it is reported on the news. If an incident occurs in a hospital it is the state health minister that says that the area health services are looking into the incident. So I will assume that is how the money flows.
I went to an interview recently with the state health department. Of course I did not get the job otherwise I could not write about it. Part of this role was to analyse the data sent from other states for NSW patients in their hospitals. As we have the biggest state, we are always in the red when the final analysis is complete. There is a lot of wrangling between the states on the amount of money we owe them.
I was warned that I would be working on many projects where I would be near completion and then would be completely dumped for no reason other than another state health minister has been replaced. We in NSW have had the same state government for past 14 years and 7 health ministers, with the most recent one disgraced because of his sexual conduct.
I was also told that the lifestyle would be different to what I was used to in the corporate world and I would be able to have another life after work. This role was offering above average rates and was a major division within the state health department.
As Australian citizens we all have a Medicare card. We take it to the doctors and if we are lucky enough we get a doctor that does bulk billing, we don’t pay a cent. We know, when we go to the chemist to pick up our drugs, if PBS listed, it is being funded by Medicare as we use our cards to fill our prescriptions. We know that 1.5% of our income is funding Medicare which we pay through our taxes to the federal government. On top of that if we (single person) earn above 70k per annum we have to have private health insurance (which part pays for any above Medicare expenses including dental if you can afford it) or you pay another 1% of your annual income.
The law of diminishing returns, the more hands money passes through the less you have at the end. Why doesn’t the federal government take over all of hospitals from the states? The money saved could at least put our hospital health care indicator to be healthy rather than sick and getting worse. Do the states have that much control over our federal government or is it the federal government does not want to take over something that is too hard to fix?
Colleen Chan is the "Business Analyst with a Difference". Colleen is an out of work business analyst due to the GFC. But is now also a blogger, she blogs about her social networking efforts as a novice to find work, the occasional rant and also her favourite subject data analytics. You can read Colleen's regular blog or follow her on Twitter @ColleenChanaus.
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Another State Health Minister?
We have new state leader again tonight. Congradulations Kristina on being our first female state leader!
But does that mean we are getting another different health minister again within 3 months?
What patients want
The public wants the government to stop wasting money
Foggy,
I couldn't agree with you more.
But the question is the waste of public money on health ministers who continually change. Wasting public DOLLARS on projects that are near completion then being dumped as they did not like the idea of the previous minister's and without the consultation of the people working on the project. Imagine how disheartening it must be for these people when they know that their project may be dropped. This not only occurs at the state level but also at the federal level.
Also the waste of money that goes to the states to pay for Australian citizens to use hospitals in other states!
Your verse is very sweet and of course we need unity amongst the ranks to have a functioning hospital system, but without the funding, patients will never get what they want.