Why is our health-care system in decline? The primary reason is that it is inefficient and can't cope with the demands of our ageing population. Is there a solution? Yes - on the cost side, we need more competition in terms of the supply of health-care services. One can run a universal health-care system, a system which provides social insurance for all, and yet still ensure that the suppliers of services include a majority of private non-for-profits competing on quality and cost. This kind of system works best.
However, it is not the system which our Health Minister, Andrew Little, wants. What is he in favor of? He wants a socialist system in which there is one gigantic State-owned provider (Health NZ). Andrew Little's confusion between the meaning of social insurance and socialism will mark the downfall of NZ's entire health-care system.
Social insurance is about pooling risks, whereas socialism is about the means of production being publicly owned. Socialism means no competition, cost blow-outs and bureaucracy. Health-care is best run by pooling risks so everyone can get coverage whilst at the same time utilizing the power of the private sector to improve quality.
Why wont the government do the right thing & reform our health-care system to stop NZ offering increasingly Third World services? Because the government thinks there is a political advantage in labelling folks like me pro-privatization of health-care and in favor of putting low income folks health at risk by doing so. That smear is false & just strengthens the point that the difference between social insurance & socialism is unknown to our government.
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