The Truth About Private Health Care AMA Buckets Duckett

In an article published in the Australian Health Review, Professor Duckett says: "This study shows that Federal Government policies supporting private health insurance may actually increase waiting times for hospital treatment."

Dr Glasson said that Professor Duckett has been flogging this dead horse of an idea for some considerable time without success and with only limited support from the usual suspects in health policy circles.

"There is simply no evidence to support Professor Duckett's theory," Dr Glasson said.

"He has been arguing that additional support for the private sector will not take pressure off the public sector and reduce waiting times for public patients for years now, but has not been able to back up his argument with facts, figures or plausible evidence.

"To compound his error, Professor Duckett reportedly makes the outrageous claim that 'greedy doctors' had a 'perverse incentive' to seek higher pay in the private sector and let the public waiting times grow longer.

"This is a gross insult to the hardworking and dedicated doctors who keep both the public and private systems working by putting patients first."

Dr Glasson said the evidence to refute Professor Duckett's argument is solid and compelling:

• The Federal Government policies that support private health insurance (the 30% PHI rebate, Lifetime Health Cover and the Medicare levy surcharge) have together been responsible for lifting coverage from 30 per cent of the population (and falling fast) to 43 per cent (and steady). Were it not for these policies, the private health sector would have been in terminal decline and the pressure on the public system (and Budgets) would have been intolerable
• Large numbers of patients have been able to access the private sector, including patients who would otherwise have encountered long waits for access as public patients. The transfer of work is very striking—between 1995-96 and 2002-03, private hospital separations grew by 63 per cent and public hospital separations by 14 per cent. It is simply ludicrous for anyone to claim that the growth of separations in the private sector has taken no pressure off the public system.

"Australian patients have access to affordable health care in a system that offers a balance between the public and private sectors - with the sectors complementing each other, not eroding each other as Professor Duckett claims," Dr Glasson said.

1 February 2005

CONTACT: John Flannery (02) 6270 5477 / (0419) 494 761