The news that the NSW Government will hand control of public hospitals to private providers is the ultimate rebuke to Malcolm Turnbull’s claim that Australia’s healthcare and Medicare systems are safe under the Liberals.
Hospitals in Maitland, Wyong, Goulburn, Shellharbour and Bowral are now up for grabs to a private provider.
This will implement a two-tiered health system where access to hospital services is determined by a credit card, not a Medicare card.
During the election, Labor warned that the Liberals’ attacks on health were privatisation by stealth. The NSW Government handing control of public hospitals to a for-profit provider is a cookie-cutter example.
The Turnbull Government has had its plans to outsource the Medicare payments system exposed, and has already handed confidential pap smear and bowel screening results to a telecommunications giant.
Turnbull’s extended freeze on Medicare rebates will see costs continue to shift to patients as doctors are forced to abandon bulk billing.
Malcolm Turnbull said he learnt his lesson on health at the election, he hasn’t learnt a thing.
Whether it’s Mike Baird in Sydney or Malcolm Turnbull in Canberra, hospitals and Medicare are under threat.
FRIDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2016