Revitalise Medicare To Make It Deliver For All
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday April 21, 2008
HEALTH leaders have made it clear the Government will need to rethink sacred cows such as Medicare and no-go areas such as the health insurance rebate, says the veteran advocate for mental health Ian Hickie.
Professor Hickie said the strongest view to emerge in the summit's health discussions was emphatic support for a universal health-care system, an ideal that had been progressively eroded since Medicare was established 24 years ago.He nominated the decline in Medicare's universal cover, the $3.5 billion health insurance rebate (which Labor has insisted it will retain) and the lack of accountability between federal and state governments as underlying criticisms that shadowed many of the discussions."Medicare continues to deliver for those who are better off in the capital cities, but it tends to leave out the bush and those who can't pay. It excludes the indigenous, the youth and the mentally ill." The biggest plus out of the series of health meetings, he said, was the attendance of three pivotal people to hear the strength of views on the need for change in the system - the Minister for Health, Nicola Roxon, her chief of staff, Mick Reid, and the secretary of her department, Jane Halton.Professor Hickie, who was director of the beyondblue campaign on depression and fought for a big upgrade in federal funding for mental health, said the benefits of having the decision-makers exposed to an unrelenting barrage of criticisms and ideas should not be underestimated."We will not end up with anything like a health system Australia wants in 2020 unless the Government takes action now," said Professor Hickie, the director of Sydney University's Brain and Mind Research Institute.But many of the solutions to the poor health of indigenous Australians, remedies for mental illness and the need for positive early childhood development lay with non-health policy areas such as education and productivity.
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald