Page 3885 - Week 15 - Tuesday, 15 December 1992
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Under Labor, private health insurance is on the way out in this country. The Federal Labor Government wants no more private insurance. I do not think there is any doubt about that. As yet, we have heard no admission from Mr Berry that this is a bad trend. I was not quite sure what he actually said about that in his speech. He seems to be pleased that the level of private insurance is declining. I find it hard to believe that he could be happy about it, given that it has meant less revenue for our public hospital system and has already led to budgetary problems. Last financial year $4.624m in supplementation was needed to meet increased costs and revenue shortfalls, all to do with patient mix.
Certainly, the Chief Minister has acknowledged the problem. She clearly acknowledged in her budget strategy statement in June, in the budget itself, and again last Wednesday that changes in patient mix were causing very real revenue problems. We still have to get that basic acknowledgment from Mr Berry. We still have to get to first base. Will he acknowledge that the trend is a bad one, or is he secretly glad? If he is glad that private insurance is falling, he also must be pleased to see the revenue shortfalls resulting. Is he letting his ideology get in the way of commonsense yet again? One would have to assume so.
A particularly regressive part of the Medicare package is proposals which will force State and Territory governments to treat a minimum of 51.5 per cent of total bed days in the public sector. Penalties for failing to meet this threshold are designed to ensure that a greater proportion of patients are treated in the public system. This approach is beyond reason and can only be counterproductive. I wonder whether Mr Howe is suggesting that private patients - who, by the way, also pay the Medicare levy - should somehow be discriminated against? Because the public hospitals will have to take steps to reduce the proportion of private patients being admitted, this may mean a further decline in in-patient revenues. As yet, we have not been guaranteed adequate compensation for that.
Meanwhile, our public hospitals are full to overflowing and we have long waiting lists, while at the same time the national trend is that private hospitals are being underutilised. It would not take long for any intelligent person looking at this situation to realise that the solution involves encouraging a shift of patients from the waiting lists at public hospitals to the empty beds in private hospitals. Neither Mr Howe nor Mr Berry seems to understand that.
Here in Canberra, some of our problems are of a slightly different nature from those occurring nationally. Unlike other States, particularly Victoria, we do not have an extensive private hospital sector that is being underutilised. In fact, as we all know, in Canberra we have a real problem: We do not have enough private hospital beds to encourage people into private insurance. We need to encourage a shift of people from public to private systems, from uninsured to insured. Those who can afford it must be encouraged to pay. It is shocking that this does not occur under the Labor approach to Medicare. This seems to be contrary to all Labor Party principle, if they have any. Here we have a Labor government which is not interested in encouraging the well off to pay for their medical treatment. Talk about giving welfare to the middle classes! That is what this Labor Government appears to stand for.
Mr Berry should realise that those on higher incomes are getting a subsidy under his proposed Medicare deal. Contrary to what Mr Berry said recently, the 1.4 per cent Medicare levy is not a progressive tax. Obviously, Mr Berry does not know any basic economics.
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