By Jane Salmon
Hospital cuts hurt people when they are at their most vulnerable: presenting to Accident & Emergency after motor or industrial accidents, for example.
Private insurance is no protection in such crisis.
Increasing the cost of pap and path tests or scans may also delay timely detection of illnesses which, if they worsen, generate still greater expense.
As a cancer patient in remission with young children, this is pretty clear to me.
I was busily paying for (unsubsidised under LNP) early intervention autism therapy for two boys from my own pocket (instead of mammograms) when undetected breast tumours spread.
Extensive surgery, radio therapy and chemo costs the community hundreds of thousands (privately insured or not). If the patient lives, they may not bounce back to full working vigour.
So cuts and late detection make treatment messier, slower, costlier. Cuts can also reduce the chance of ever returning to full speed.
I am tempted to tell LNP voters who invest their faith private health, “It’s your funeral”. But actually, it’s mine, too. And my children and I really resent that.
