Opposition leader Tony Abbott says the Federal Government's health reform proposals are all about the system, and there's nothing for the long suffering patient. He was right to the extent that health care should be about caring for patients, and not feeding bureaucracy.
However a simplistic and ad hoc approach to rebuilding the nation's health care system would set us back even further. This occurred in 2007 when the Coalition Government tried to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians by riding roughshod over bureaucracy with the Northern Territory Intervention. Last week's action-man images of Abbott riding a quad bike and eating a witchetty grub gives us cause to worry that he could approach health reform in a cavalier manner.
Health bureaucracy is a necessary evil because it protects patients from special interests whose primary motivation is the bottom line of health-related businesses. These include the Australian Pharmacy Guild, drug companies, private health insurance funds, and to some extent the AMA. Lobbyists from these groups dominate debate, as they are better resourced than non-profits such as the Cancer Council, whose only interest is patient health.
After last week's announcement, John Menadue of the Centre for Policy Development said the Rudd Government is moving in the right direction in its determination to get the system right. He suggested that the Government should establish a permanent, independent, professional and community-based statutory health authority similar to the Reserve Bank in the monetary field.
'The Reserve Bank's governance structure has made it almost impervious to lobbying and generally, it has been independent,' said Menadue. 'Such an independent health commission with strong economic capabilities is necessary to facilitate informed public discussion, counter the power of special interests and determine programs and distribute Commonwealth health funds across the country.'
Such a body could establish a world-class health funding system for patients in the future. However those who need proper care now should not be ignored. Again this is where action-man Tony Abbott has a point.
Martin Laverty of Catholic Health Australia has said there are 89,000 patients who have been waiting longer than the clinically appropriate time for their surgery, and that there must be an interim arrangement to ensure they get the treatment they deserve. He suggests using spare capacity in the private hospital system to treat public patients. This surely must be considered as part of a short- and long-term solution for Australia's broken health care system.
Michael Mullins is