Unhealthy Industry

From The Australian newspapers’ health section

AT THE COAL FACE: Gabriel James

January 09, 2010

SINCE the introduction of Medicare in 1985 we’ve had more than 20 state and federal health system reviews.

Each identifies lack of money, poor planning and weak primary care as big issues. Each proposes blue-sky goals such as better rewarding of prevention, creating interdisciplinary teams and training more doctors. But what has changed?

If Australian healthcare were a business its stock price would be tumbling. It’s time we recognised that to be sustainable, health must be like any other industry. Instead, our inflexible workforce, burdensome regulation and consumer segregation makes health a nationalised fiasco, with a small proportion of private entities taking the cream.

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