The board room

[fuagf]

Contribution to the UHC debate. One of the problems in Australia over years is the old socialist
vs free enterprize diametrically opposed positions of the two major political parties; Labor, your
Democrats and Liberal, your Republicans. Heh, can't help but chuckle every time i type that.

Introduced in 1975 as a universal system there were problems with overuse, yes. There is always
conflict between Federal and State contributions to funding and plenty of problems with waiting lists,
shortages of nurses and doctors at times, availability of practitioners in country and more isolated
areas, medical fraud et al. Pathology and over servicing have been the chief areas of fraud i think.

Anyway here is the our system again which could offer some insight as to prospective changes to yours.

Medicare is Australia's publicly-funded universal health care system, operated by the government authority Medicare Australia. Medicare is intended to provide affordable treatment by doctors and in public hospitals for all resident citizens and permanent residents except for those on Norfolk Island. Residents with a Medicare card can receive subsidised treatment from medical practitioners who have been issued a Medicare provider number, and fully subsidised treatment in public hospitals. Visitors from countries which have reciprocal arrangements with Australia have limited access to Medicare.

INSERT: note: The rebate of 1999 was introduced by the right leaning Howard government to encourage private insurance, designed to encourage private insurance, to take some pressure off the public hospital system and, of course, to support the private health insurance industry.

Since 1999, the public health scheme has been supplemented by a Private Health Insurance Rebate, where the government funds at least 30% of any private health insurance premium covering people eligible for Medicare. Including these rebates, Medicare is the major component of the total Commonwealth health budget, taking up about 43% of the total. The program is estimated to cost $18.3 billion in 2007-08. This figure is projected to rise by almost 4% annually in real terms over the next few years.

Contents
1 History .. 1.1 Medibank .. 1.2 Current program
2 Funding and legal framework .. 2.1 Program funding .. 2.2 Constitutional framework
3 Components .. 3.1 Medicare Benefits Scheme .. 3.2 Medicare Safety Net
4 Medicare and private health insurance
5 Other health care programs .. 5.1 Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme .. 5.2 State/territory programs
6 See also .. 7 References .. 8 External links

History .. Medibank
Medicare, originally called Medibank, was introduced by the Whitlam Labor Government on 1 July 1975, at the commencement of the Health Insurance Act 1973. The introduction of Medicare was fraught: the Senate rejected the changes multiple times and they were passed only at a joint sitting following the 1974 double dissolution election.

Despite this hostile response to its introduction, Medibank/Medicare was supported by subsequent governments and has become a key feature of Australia’s public policy landscape. The exact structure of Medicare, in terms of the size of the rebate to doctors and hospitals and the way it has administered, has varied over the years. Although considerable changes were enacted after the Whitlam government lost power, the Fraser Government reviewed Medibank and decided to retain it despite the Liberal Party’s previous opposition. In October 1976 the parliament introduced a ‘Medicare levy’ to help fund the program, a measure the Liberal party had previously refused to support under the Whitlam government.

1 October 1976 also saw the introduction of Medibank Private, a complementary government-owned private health insurance fund that provides cover for health treatment not covered by the universal scheme (which was then referred to as 'Medibank Public'). Medibank Private competes with all other private health funds on a commercial basis. In 2006 the then Coalition government announced that Medibank Private would be privatised after the 2007 election, claiming a conflict of interest in being both the regulator of the whole private health insurance industry and the owner of its largest single competitor. However the incoming Australian Labor Party government pledged that it would remain in government ownership.

Current program
The title ‘Medicare’ was introduced in 1984 by the Hawke Government. The Hawke Government reversed many of the Fraser Government’s changes, and this change in title also reflects the introduction of what can be considered the current Medicare system.

Funding and legal framework .. Program funding
The original Medibank program proposed a 1.35% levy (with low income exemptions) but these bills were rejected by the Senate, and so Medibank was originally funded from general revenue. In October 1976, the Fraser Government introduced a 2.5% levy.

The program is now nominally funded by an income tax surcharge known as the Medicare levy, which is currently set at 1.5%. An exemption applies to low income earners. In practice the levy raises only a fraction of the money required to pay for the scheme. If the levy was to fully pay for the services provided under the medicare banner then it would need to be set at about 8%.

There is an additional levy of 1.0%, known as the Medicare Levy Surcharge, for those on high annual incomes increased to $75,000+ in the 2008 federal budget who do not have adequate levels of private hospital coverage. This was part of an effort by the former Howard Coalition Federal Government to encourage people towards private health insurance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_(Australia)

UHC certainly is no panacea to problems as we have plenty. There have been overseas
recruitment programs for nurses and doctors, as there have been for teachers, at times.

The bottom line is though all are covered in dire times and i don't think bankruptcies
occur in the case of individual health crisis, as have heard can occur in the US.