ZB ZB
Live now
Start time
Playing for
End time
Listen live
Listen to NAME OF STATION
Up next
Listen live on
ZB

Andrew Dickens: Health is still the crucial issue for NZ, and it needs more funding

Author
Andrew Dickens,
Publish Date
Tue, 9 Aug 2016, 7:01AM
Photo / Getty Images
Photo / Getty Images

Andrew Dickens: Health is still the crucial issue for NZ, and it needs more funding

Author
Andrew Dickens,
Publish Date
Tue, 9 Aug 2016, 7:01AM

So simple question. Do you have health insurance? Or will you pay more tax for an increase in health spending

I ask this because of the case of Christchurch woman Jackie Simons. She's 56, she's a pharmacy assistant and she's blown her shoulder. I know where she's coming from. My shoulder's a bit bung too. And I don't know why because I can't remember any event but something's wrong and it hurts. Shoulder injuries are painful.

Jackie bent over to pick something up and the shoulder went ping and now she's in pain. I'm underselling that. She's crippled. And she doesn't have insurance

So fix it. Well, it doesn't meet ACC thresholds and the public system is overwhelmed with baby boomers needing shoulder surgery. So Jackie decided to borrow 20 grand and just get it fixed even though that will take her 5 years to pay off the loan on her modest wage.

It’s raised the question about whether our health system be funded better. Annette King thinks so. She reckons we're underfunded by nearly 2 billion a year. Jonathan Coleman from National argues that health spending has gone up by 4.5 per cent each year, which is admirable but then again our population growth both natural and immigrated accounts for much of that.

Meanwhile Kevin Hague from the Greens, a man who knows the health system backwards having worked in it, also says it's underfunded and he argues we're investing 20 billion in Defence and another 20 billion on roads but wouldn't some of that money be better used in keeping our workers healthy through more funding of health?

But then he went on and said he'd like to get rid of health insurance because it results in a two-tier system. Those who can afford healthcare and those who can't who become unproductive units waiting for state care.

So quickly here's my thoughts. With all the oxygen taken up with housing and infrastructure, health and education has slipped off the radar. Health needs more funding because the population is aging and growing partly through policy. Education needs more because it's the answer to everything. So up the budgets. The silver foxes who are developing health problems while doing so well out of property should be able to understand that.

But Kevin Hague's attack on health insurance is silly. It's taking pressure off the public sector. If anyone wants to invest more in their own health why would you stop them. He may be 56 but he's still a class warrior.  The public system should fund the acute cases and the most urgent chronic ones and let insurance pick up the slack.

And not wanting to be rude, Jackie has also learned that lesson. The false economy of not investing in health insurance has forced her to the money lenders. It's all good unless something else in her 56 year old body decides to pack a sad.  Health Insurance is something you get before you get Sky TV or a holiday to Australia.

The whole issue reminds me that for all the Trumps and housing bubbles and Olympic golds dominating the headlines. Health is still the crucial issue for the country. We're doing it on the cheap right now. It's an expensive cheap but still it needs more. It's critical for life and for the money men, it's also critical for productivity. Jackie needs to be fixed so she can get back to work. And to those getting on, worrying about the cost of insurance, I say think again about the pain you’re gambling with.

 

 

Take your Radio, Podcasts and Music with you