The health of patients with cataracts is being forgotten by both major parties in the debate about Medicare rebates for cataract surgery and for joint injections, writes Dr Tim Woodruff.
Medicare 
Medicare’s future is at stake
The National Health and Hospital Reform Commission’s new proposals on Denticare and Medicare Select will lay the grounds for the eventual demise of Medicare, says John Menadue.
Don’t let health reform jeopardise the good works done by public hospital outpatient clinics
There is no doubt that the community needs better access to specialist services closer to where they live and work, writes Professor Ian Webster.
Consumer advocate goes eye to eye with ophthalmologists
Exploiting a vulnerable health consumer is unethical behaviour for a professional group campaigning to maintain their high incomes. Which is exactly what ophthalmologists are doing, writes Carol Bennett.
Calls to review funding of unproven spinal procedure
A bitter brawl has erupted over the spinal procedure vertebroplasty, with new research finding that the Medicare covered procedure is “no better than [a] placebo”.
Medicare De-Select: does allowing an “opt out” mean the end of Medicare?
Along with the laudable plans to reform a basically robust system, the National Health and Hospitals Commission proposal suggests something that could undermine our system’s very fundamentals: Medicare Select.
Rudd should sink his teeth into reducing sugar consumption
Since everyone is in wild agreement that the cause of tooth decay is sugar, why are we not acting to restrict its consumption?, asks David Gillespie.
Fixing health: Crikey reviews the latest report
The much-anticipated report from the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission has landed. Bernard Keane gets to grips with the detail.
Tips and rumours: ABC Radio stays mono
One tipster questions if ABC Radio will actually go digital, and what’s going on between Julie Bishop and Dennis Jensen?
Mungo MacCallum: Turnbull manages a budget week without silliness
Turnbull did pretty well in budget week … the only one of his colleagues who bagged him was Bronwyn Bishop.
Health budget: clever, but way off
The health budget measures are a clever response to a difficult situation, writes Robert Wells.
Budget 09 leaks: a Crikey list
This year, with a GFC-affected Budget, leaks are being used to help people — especially higher income earners — adjust to the idea that it won’t just be bonuses and handouts.
Spinal procedure possibly no better than sham surgery
A procedure performed regularly on thousands of people with painful spinal fractures may not in fact work, according to the preliminary results of scientific studies.
Budget countdown: health caught in a catch 22
The more successful our health system, the longer Australians live — and the longer they will need aged care services of all varieties.
Senator Fielding a proud supporter of big business welfare
Steve Fielding has been more willing to flex his legislative muscle to assist the big end of town than Mr and Mrs Average, writes Jennifer Doggett.
Steve Fielding: Defender of the wealthy
The Medicare surcharge and health insurance rebates remain the most outrageous examples of rent-seeking in the Commonwealth sector, writes Bernard Keane
A single national insurer? Sounds like healthy policy
Should we be moving away from private health insurance? Ian McAuley makes the case for a single national insurer.
A GP’s lament: the patients who get a raw deal
As a GP working in Sydney, I heartily endorse calls to overhaul the way we provide primary care, writes Simon Willcock.
Why the private health insurance changes won’t break the system
The evidence does not support claims that the budget’s private health insurance changes will break the public health system, writes Jennifer Doggett.
What will drive change in health?
Two forces are visible that will drive change in the health system and in the health debate even though both, to a fair extent, have to do with money, writes Stephen Leeder.
Crikey Says: Crikey Says
Wayne Swan’s budget was pre-announced, pre-processed pap. So why did some of Australia’s finest minds waste time covering it?
Private health insurers are such drama queens
If the private health insurance industry is totally relying on a penalty imposed by the government to get healthy members in, how sustainable is their business? wonders Michael Johnston, Senior Policy Officer at CHOICE.
Mungo: Labor government supports Medicare. Shock.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd thought the changes to the Medicare levy were important enough to warrant a separate, pre-budget announcement. But his health minister, Nicola Roxon, has spent the time since playing them down, writes Mungo MacCallum.
Private health insurance not to blame for all ills
Ian McAuley keeps finding new reasons for attacking the private health insurance industry, the latest being the industry’s contribution to inflation, writes Andrew Podger, former secretary of the Federal Department of Health and Aged Care
Tips and rumours
Lotus Notes vs. Microsoft. Re. “Tips and rumours” (Friday, item 8). ”FAHCSIA is in the middle of a transition from a prehistoric Lotus Notes platform to MS Office, which is not going anywhere near as smoothly or as cheaply as expected.” Yet again another Commonwealth Department has been wooed from an established, industrial strength and modern […]
