Media Releases
Ending ‘Free Lunch’ Problem the Recipe for a Sustainable Hospital System
Public hospital charges should be reintroduced in the form of a daily accommodation fee, argues a new book released by The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) this Thursday.
No Quick Fix: Three Essays on the Future of the Australian Hospital System outlines a 12-point plan to fix public hospitals in Australia. The plan is based on three studies of the ‘hospital crisis’ by Professor Wolfgang Kasper, Dr John R. Graham, and Dr Jeremy Sammut.
In the introductory chapter, Dr Sammut discusses the commonsense administrative and funding reforms that can improve the performance of the public system.
Local boards must be back in charge of public hospitals to cut bureaucratic overheads and improve efficiency, while a new voucher system for elective surgery will increase choice, competition, and productivity.
However no government-funded health system will ever deliver the free and endless hospital care promised by Medicare.
‘This myth must be busted. Australians need to pay more for health services out of their own pockets so that long queues for emergency treatment in overcrowded public hospitals do not continue.’ Says Dr Sammut.
‘Accommodation fees in public hospitals are a first step toward ending the ‘free lunch’ mentality in health.’
Daily charges should be accompanied by a national advertising campaign which tells the public that no reforms will ever eliminate elective waiting lists in public hospitals because the health budget is limited and there are more urgent patients at the front of the queue.
‘Elective waiting times should be advertised so that individuals who do not wish to wait can take out private health insurance to access much quicker care in private hospital facilities.’
Having a sustainable hospital system depends on strengthening Australia’s ‘mixed’ health system.
‘The more people that take personal responsibility for their healthcare and pay for private insurance, the more equitable access all Australians will have to hospital treatment’
Dr Jeremy Sammut is a Research Fellow at The Centre for Independent Studies and a contributor to No Quick Fix: Three Essays on the Future of the Australian Hospital System. He is available for comment.
