14-02-2023, 10:31 AM
On face value it looks pretty bad but since it's Stuff reporting I take it with a grain of salt. I no longer trust Stuff's "woe is me" stories after seeing a couple where I knew either the people or the background and saw how much they twist things.
But, in the bigger picture I fully agree that government funded health care should be properly covered and include basic dental care. The problems we have arise because within the public system, the practitioners are all having to run as businesses. Each one has different overheads, different costs according to what services/equipment they have paid for for their practices, how many staff they employ (business managers are expensive!) and how much overlap there is with the public hospitals creating conflict of interest.
Our health sector is woefully underfunded and mis-managed and ACC really is a problem. They do need to keep funds in reserve to cover large scale emergencies, but the profits they make from investments are obscene.
But, in the bigger picture I fully agree that government funded health care should be properly covered and include basic dental care. The problems we have arise because within the public system, the practitioners are all having to run as businesses. Each one has different overheads, different costs according to what services/equipment they have paid for for their practices, how many staff they employ (business managers are expensive!) and how much overlap there is with the public hospitals creating conflict of interest.
Our health sector is woefully underfunded and mis-managed and ACC really is a problem. They do need to keep funds in reserve to cover large scale emergencies, but the profits they make from investments are obscene.