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https://theconversation.com/does-private-health-insurance-cut-public-hospital-waiting-lists-we-found-it-barely-makes-a-dent-211680>
"The more people take up private health insurance, the less pressure on the
public hospital system, including shorter waiting lists for surgery. That’s one
of the key messages we’ve been hearing from government and the private health
insurance industry in recent years.
Governments encourage us to buy private hospital cover. They tempt us with
carrots – for instance, with subsidised premiums. With higher-income earners,
the government uses sticks – buy private cover or pay the Medicare Levy
Surcharge. These are just some of the billion-dollar strategies aimed to shift
more of us who can afford it into the private system.
But what if private health insurance doesn’t have any meaningful impact on
public hospital waiting lists after all?
That’s what we found in our recent research. Our analysis suggests if an extra
65,000 people buy private health insurance, public hospital waiting lists
barely shift from the average 69 days. Waiting lists are an average just eight
hours shorter.
In other words, we’ve used hospital admission and waiting-list data to show
private health insurance doesn’t make much difference."
As always, it’s a subsidy for corporations and the wealthy, because that keeps
donors happy. We’d be better off giving all that public money directly to the
public health system.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
