Health and Health Care

Firstly, I believe that one layer of government should be responsible for healthcare. This may require a referendum. I don't have a strong view of whether state governments of the federal government should be responsible, but I am leaning towards the federal government as the federal government is the one that collects most of the taxes. I realise a change like that is not going to happen anytime soon.

We can always get a better health care system by spending more money on it. But as a believer in responsible budgets, I am going to suggest areas where we can spend more money and areas when we can save money. I am concious of the fact that some of those suggestions fall into the area of state responsibility. But as state and federal responsibilities are so intertwined, I decided to write them down anyway.

We should spend more money on the following:

• Emergency care. When people have a medical emergency, they don't have the option to go elsewhere if emergency departments are inadequate. Therefore those departments should be well resourced.
• One-off medical procedures that are essential for quality of life. I believe that people should not be limping around in pain while they are slowly progressing up the waiting list for a knee or hip replacement (for example).

• The government should reduce medicare rebates for services that have become cheaper as technology has improved. There was an excellent article in the Sydney Morning Herald about this.
• Although I am not in a position to quantify this, I have come across plenty of stories where futile medical treatment was continued for people who were dying, often against the wishes of the relatives. This is a waste of medical resources that does not really benefit the patient. We should be more willing to say that the time for treatment is over and the time has come to move on to palliative care.
• The rationale behind the health insurance rebate is that the goverment saves money when people have their medical needs serviced privately. So as an incentive there is a rebate. But the health insurance rebate covers various types of services that are not covered by medicare. I believe that health insurers should be required to unbundle their insurance products so that insurance for services that are also covered by medicare is sold separately from insurance for other services. The rebate should then not apply to insurance for other services.

I also believe that there are a lot of initiatives that fall outside the area of healthcare, yet impact on the health of the population. As an example, if we have pleasant and safe areas to walk and cycle near where we live, we are more likely to walk and cycle for recreation and transport and be healthier as a result. In and around Barton, we are well endowed with suitable parklands and bike paths. But other areas are not so fortunate.