Transcript
Station: ABC Radio Melbourne
Program: Breakfast
Date: 13/11/2024
Time: 7:20 AM
Compere: Sammy J
Program: Breakfast
Date: 13/11/2024
Time: 7:20 AM
Compere: Sammy J
Interviewee: Dr Rachel David, CEO, Private Healthcare Australia
| SAMMY J: | Earlier today, I had Greg Jericho on, Guardian columnist, Policy Director at the Centre for Future Work, who had and has had, in fact, a fairly big spray against private health insurance. He reckons it’s a terrible way to deliver good health outcomes. [Excerpt] |
| GREG JERICHO: | You’re spending a lot of money. A lot of people we know don’t actually use it, especially if you’re younger. And yet it’s still a cost. The Government is subsidising it massively. Also penalising us. Also has the lifetime health cover, which is in effect tried to force us to take it out. And it’s costing $7.5 billion with these rebates, maybe just spend it on public health and deliver better, more effective outcomes. [End of excerpt] |
| SAMMY J: | Well, that’s what Greg Jericho has to say. He has got private health insurance by the way, [coughs] as do I. After that cough maybe I need to use it, but we just had a message earlier in the programme, someone who wishes to respond, and fair enough too, is the CEO of Private Healthcare Australia, Doctor Rachel David. Rachel, thank you for getting in touch. |
| RACHEL DAVID: | Yeah. Morning, Sammy. |
| SAMMY J: | I did a poll out this morning. I asked my listeners how many of them have health insurance. Two thirds of them said they have it, but I will say that most of them also seem to imply they sort of resent having it. Like, what- do you think you and your industry will always be a necessary evil? That you won’t necessarily have the affection of most of your customers? |
| RACHEL DAVID: | Look, we’re not really looking for affection, but look, we are not a necessary evil either. We are an essential part of Australia’s health system. The health funds pay for 70 per cent of the elective or planned surgery that takes place in Australia, and 54 per cent of the mental health admissions. So I think this idea that it’s not value for money and is some kind of blight on Australia is really not true. And if you look at how Australia’s health system, its mixed private and public health system ranks in terms of health outcomes compared to other economies around the world, we’re number one. The UK health system, which has minimal private health insurance is way down the list, as is the US health system that doesn’t have the universal health care that Medicare provides. So we’re doing really well as a consequence of having the private element. |
| SAMMY J: | Do you think, Rachel, that there’d be less criticism of private healthcare, particularly for those who use it, if it was disentangled from the Government, though if it was just more of a simple straight up, you can make this choice to enter or not, but not have all the rebates, the incentives, the changes that were brought in under the Howard government in particular, sort of reshaped the way our system works? |
| RACHEL DAVID: | Look, I think it’s important to understand that it is a combined system, and it wasn’t the Howard government that set it up like that. It was actually the Labor Party in 1984. So the major parties have set it up like this, bolted into the Medicare system, because we share with the Medicare system how we pay doctors. We also pay a large share of admissions to public hospitals. And then there are other incentives in terms of the rebate that’s paid back into the system. There are two advantages of this. One is by incentivising people to pay a little bit extra for their healthcare, we’ve kept health as a percentage of GDP, the cost of the overall health system, down. While the outcomes are, as I said, some of the best in the world. And the other advantage is a thing called community rating, which Medicare and private health insurance as a virtue of being bolted together provide. And that is people who are sick don’t pay higher premiums Basically everybody pays the same premium based on their health status. So it’s an incredibly equitable system, to- even down to the fact that probably some of the poorest and sickest people who are in the system get the lion’s share of the benefits. |
| SAMMY J: | And Rachel, as evidenced just by my poll and as we know, it doesn’t mean that people are not using private health insurance with so many people taking it up. But it’s certainly these criticisms do continue, and I appreciate you taking the chance to respond this morning. Thank you. |
| RACHEL DAVID: | Yes, thanks very much for having me on. |
| SAMMY J: | Doctor Rachel David, CEO of Private Healthcare Australia. |
| * * END * * | |