PRIVATE HEALTH CARE IS ACCESSIBLE TO ALL IN AUSTRALIA

Earlier on today I went to visit an old friend in hospital who has just had a major procedure. Brisbane has quite a few large private hospitals but I had not been to the Holy Spirit hospital at Chermside before. As the name implies, it operates under the aegis of the Catholic church and my friend has given up the Communism of her youth to return to the faith of her childhood. Admission to the hospital is, however, open to all.

What I found when I went there was a huge institution that was in every way just like a first class hotel. It was immaculate. Conrad Hilton would not be able to do better. And most pleasing of all my friend's procedure had gone well and she was recovering rapidly. And while I was there, there were three visits to her by staff members looking to see what they could do for her.

Clearly, then, she is very rich, No? Someone who has has divorced well, perhaps? Not a bit of it! She has had her fair share of problems in life and has got nothing she did not work hard for. She has however always looked ahead and budgeted for the important things -- including private health insurance. So her stay in hospital is costing her virtually nothing. So she must at least have a good job? Not a bit of it! She is an old-age pensioner (Social Security recipient) who owns her own house but not a lot more.

So how can she afford private health insurance when others cannot? Basically because she does not blow her money on things like beer and cigarettes (though I don't think I will be betraying anything to note that she still enjoys a couple of glasses of wine after dinner).

I guess that you can predict that she has a very low opinion of people who DON'T put aside money for health insurance and who then complain about how badly the "free" government system treats them. I think "No excuse for it", was her phrase.





California trying to make health insurance unaffordable

"Sometimes I really hate being right. Look at my website. On September 17, 2004 ("Oops, Government Does It Again") and June 6, 2003 ("We're From the Government and We're Here to Help You") both predicted massive increases in health care premiums and huge increases in the uninsured from continued regulation of health care financing, principally regulation of health insurance.

This week, the Insurance Commissioner, an advocate for socialized medicine, wrote a report, which he called "Priced Out," showing that insurance premiums have increased 61 per cent, and the number of uninsured has increased to 6.6 million Californians. He blames insurance companies for this.

He is particularly upset at one insurance company who offers an insurance product to young people (18 to 30 year olds) with reduced benefits, high deductibles and low premiums. The product is wildly popular, giving young, healthy people protection against major medical problems at a price they can afford. These younger workers, who just last year were among the ranks of the uninsured, are now insured, and the Insurance Commissioner is mad.

Why?

I thought being insured was good. Well, the report says that those bad insurance companies are giving these workers a choice, buy cheap insurance without pregnancy coverage if you want. That is wrong, complains the Commissioner because those insurance companies should require young, 25 year old single men to pay for insurance coverage for pregnancy because young women get pregnant. Those insurance companies are cherry picking their customers, he claims, by getting these young, single (and usually healthy) men to buy this cheap policy.

Who is he kidding? One of the choices that every worker has is the choice to not be insured. If government raises the price of health insurance, these young men will simply choose to spend the money on their cars, and run the risk of getting really sick and not being able to pay. Then, if the bills get too high, they will just file bankruptcy, and you and I will eat the bill in our insurance coverage.

Those are the choices. Forcing coverage on people doesn't result in more coverage; it will actually result in no coverage at all. More government regulation will continue to drive more people to the ranks of the uninsured because it will price them out of the market.

The recommendations of the Insurance Commissioner to mandate gold-plated health insurance policies for everyone are tantamount to a government order that everyone own a Rolls Royce. Sure the Rolls-Royce is a good car, but not everyone can afford one. If the government ordered that every car look and work like a Rolls, many people would have to go without a car, because the government-mandated car would be too expensive. Those who can't afford the Commissioner's mandated gold-plated health insurance policy will simply go without insurance.

The Insurance Commissioner is correct when he says that the number of uninsured in California has increased because the price of insurance has increased 61 per cent in the last six years in California. It is not greedy insurance companies that have caused the increase, however. It is the number of health insurance policy mandates (well in excess of twenty) enacted by government that have increased the price, and thus increased the number of uninsured. In California, we are all required to buy a Cadillac health policy, or have no health insurance at all. Many have chosen, for financial reasons, to have none at all.

The prescription for this problem by the Insurance Commissioner is more government. Government created the problem with more mandates, more regulation, and more bureaucrats. When will those in government learn that more government cannot fix a problem that more government created?"

Source

***************************

For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation. Both Australia and Sweden have large private sector health systems with government reimbursement for privately-provided services so can a purely private system with some level of government reimbursement or insurance for the poor be so hard to do?

Comments? Email me here. If there are no recent posts here, the mirror site may be more up to date. My Home Page is here or here.

***************************