The future of Australian Health Care as it stands is under threat.
Under the umbrella of Honeysuckle, multi billion dollar company Cigna has joined NIB wielding great pulling power, to thrust Australian Healthcare into US style Managed Care System. The risk is not only reduced competition and choice by concentrating market power in the hands of the insurer but more importantly this threatens freedom of choice for patients to choose who treats them, where they are treated and inserts a third party into the doctor-patient relationship. Ultimately it not only takes the power from the consumer to choose their specialist, it also takes power from the specialist to determine the most appropriate treatment for the individual patient with resulting in poorer outcomes for patients and better bottom lines for the health insurers.
Healthcare should never be one-size-fits-all, it should be tailored for each patient. The horror stories from the United States are never ending, where patients are told their insurance won’t cover them unless they see a Doctor that is part of their network i.e. “contracted” to them. It is also well known for some insurance companies to refuse to fund tests or treatments their Doctor believes are in their best interests. US Style Managed Care removes autonomy from the Doctors whereby patients’ needs are being determined by administrators not clinicians.
The proposal of Honeysuckle US Style Managed Health Care into Australia benefits shareholders at the expense of the Australian people and we need to urge the Federal Government to Legislate & Regulate to protect the Australian Healthcare System.
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