Truck and Barter: Reform=Nationalization

May 10, 2004

Reform=Nationalization

By Bob

Saw this article over here. In a plan being put together by Australian states premiers that would appearantly put all schools under the control of government bureaucracy and create a new one for national healthcare, they are calling it reform when it really is nationalization. It is unclear from the article if it would include private healthcare in the proposal, it's implied, but I don't want to make that assertion. When they say,

" they want families to be "enrolled" with a selected GP or health clinic for life."

you can't be too encouraged on that front. The main points:

• Replacing COAG with a stronger and more influential Council of the Australian Federation.

• Creating a new public education system which would include not only government schools but also Catholic and independent schools.

• Encouraging greater integration of the health sector with less duplication and more services tailored specifically to meet patients' needs.

• Forming new national bureaucracies to reform and run the health and education sectors.

It is only a working paper of the Australian states premiers, but is worth watching in the run-up to the general election. I somehow doubt this women would be for such a plan:

A WOMAN who was told she'd had a partial miscarriage saved her unborn baby's life by getting a second opinion.

Toowoomba Hospital doctors told Sherri Ann Buchanan on April 28 she had had an incomplete miscarriage and booked her in for a curette the next day to remove the remains of the fetus.

After waiting for about five hours for the surgery, Miss Buchanan, 20, said "it didn't feel right" so she left and sought advice from her GP.

The mother-of-one, who is almost four months pregnant, said her doctor referred her to a private clinic and an ultrasound showed her baby was alive and healthy.

"I couldn't believe it. I just broke down," Miss Buchanan said.

It could be worse, my friend's sister had her baby die in the womb and they didn't notice for six weeks. The amazing thing is they did tests during that time. The fine hospital who did such a thing was Northwestern Memorial in Chicago(the lawsuit was settled some time ago, it damn near killed her). There could be incompetence by both private and public healthcare providers, but it seams that the latter was lacking in resources for the public(which seems implied in the article) hospital the Austrlian women went for her needs. Posted at May 10, 2004 05:47 AM

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