Australia: Labor’s “reform” to further privatise health care

[Hannah Bell]

The final report of the Australian government’s 16-month-old National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission, released last week, has made clearer the pro-market and pro-business agenda driving what Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says is the most major “reform” of health care since the introduction of the Medicare universal insurance scheme in the 1970s.

In the guise of revamping the Medicare framework, the Labor government is actually preparing a major assault on public health care. Rudd is setting out to exploit the already severe under-funding and running-down of public hospital and health services over the past three decades to increasingly transform the entire system into a market-driven one.

To meet the demands of big business for higher productivity and “competitiveness”, the blueprint is designed to slash costs by rationing or “capping” treatment for those who are not privately insured, while boosting the profits of corporate insurers, private service providers and pharmaceutical giants.

In order to overcome popular distrust as well as unease among medical professionals, Rudd announced a six-month period of consultation over the implementation of the commission’s 123 recommendations. At their core is a scheme in which the federal government would no longer provide block funding for state government-run public hospitals but tender health services out to competition between public hospitals, not-for-profit organisations and health care conglomerates.

Instead of being funded to meet general needs, the contracted organisations would be paid only for specific patient outputs via casemix funding. This is a system in which hospitals receive pre-determined payments for each category of procedure, regardless of the patient’s recovery or prognosis.

The Australian Financial Review commended the government for laying the groundwork for the “Holy Grail of health-care reform”—a “big bang solution” of free market competition for federal funds. For business this “Holy Grail” means reduced social spending and lower corporate taxes, and bigger opportunities for profit making in health services.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/aug2009/medi-a06.shtml

[HamdenRice]

1. Hannah Bull you and WSWS hate organized Labor, and Social Democrats so can't know if this is true

The Australian Labor Party is the equivalent of the Democrats (except it's to the left of the Democrats), and is based in organized labor in Australia. It is officially a "democratic socialist" party, although it has shifted to center left "social democratic" positions in recent years.

It defeated the right wing party a few years ago to form a center left government.

I realize that both democratic socialists and social democrats are hated by Trotskites, and that Trotskite organizations like WSWS will basically make up any lie to discredit democratic socialists or social democrats, so it's difficult to give this analysis any credence.

Considering you've stated your hatred of both the US Democratic Party and US organized union as criminal conspiracies against the working class, I also can't give much credibility to your motives for posting an article from a Trotskite organization that trashes any proposals of the Australian Labor Party.

[Hannah Bell]

2. and you're a serial prevaricator, so i can't give much credibility to your stalking memos either.