2009年6月4日星期四
Medicare in bad health
Medicare in bad health
Wednesday June 3, 2009, 9:35 am
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Sick Australians are going to have to pay up when Medicare, Australia's free healthcare system, is forced to close its doors.
That time may come sooner than expected.
In an interview, NSW Health director-general Debora Piccone said that "we are really on the edge of losing the universal healthcare system that this country has."
Rising costs and an ageing population have sparked concerns the medicare system could come to an end in just five years.
"I would have (previously) said we'd had 10 years to run. It's now looking like we've got five years to run because the cost escalations are so significant," she said.
State health authorities have revealed we are heading for a US-style user pays system, where insurance premiums exceed $3000 even with employer subsidies.
Under the US system there is no free health care. It is a "for-profit system" in which people only get the treatment they can afford - not the treatment they need. Essentially, your health insurance fund - not doctors - decide what medical treatment will be given.
In the US, where there is no Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the cost of routine diabetes, cholesterol and blood-pressure medications is around $1,000 per month.
All of this change is prompting a plan to combine state and federal health funding to take control of hospitals and patient care.
Let us know your thoughts: How badly would you be affected if Medicare was shut down?
Professor Piccone and Health Minister John Della Bosca are now working on a plan to pool all state and federal health funding and have it redistributed by a joint partnership between the two governments.
Mr Della Bosca said the overhaul - the biggest since universal health care was introduced under Gough Whitlam - would deliver "a single mandate" of patient care.
In its first stages the move would address:
The 1000-odd state-run hospital beds occupied by elderly who should be in federally run nursing homes;
Overlap between drugs handed out in state-run hospitals and purchased via the federal PBS;
Revisiting the roles of various state and federally regulated medical staff in rural areas.
The plan would need Canberra's approval, but Mr Della Bosca said he was confident the Rudd Government would respond positively.
Should we have seen this coming?
All the way back in 2001, John Howard promised Medicare would remain, but it would be the Medicare that he and the 2001 Health Minister, Michael Wooldridge, had in mind: a shadow of the universal, bulk-billing, public system.
It seems that their long awaited dreams are finally coming into fruition after all.
http://au.biz.yahoo.com/y7finance_editorial/02062009/medicare_bad_health.html
Wednesday June 3, 2009, 9:35 am
a.y7sc {border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(151,151,204);text-decoration:none;color:black;background: transparent none repeat scroll 0%; cursor: pointer; color:#333;}
a.y7sc:hover {cursor: pointer; text-decoration:none;color:#00F;border-bottom: 1px solid #00F;}
a.y7sc:visited {border-bottom: 1px dashed #639;text-decoration:none;color:#333;}
Sick Australians are going to have to pay up when Medicare, Australia's free healthcare system, is forced to close its doors.
That time may come sooner than expected.
In an interview, NSW Health director-general Debora Piccone said that "we are really on the edge of losing the universal healthcare system that this country has."
Rising costs and an ageing population have sparked concerns the medicare system could come to an end in just five years.
"I would have (previously) said we'd had 10 years to run. It's now looking like we've got five years to run because the cost escalations are so significant," she said.
State health authorities have revealed we are heading for a US-style user pays system, where insurance premiums exceed $3000 even with employer subsidies.
Under the US system there is no free health care. It is a "for-profit system" in which people only get the treatment they can afford - not the treatment they need. Essentially, your health insurance fund - not doctors - decide what medical treatment will be given.
In the US, where there is no Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the cost of routine diabetes, cholesterol and blood-pressure medications is around $1,000 per month.
All of this change is prompting a plan to combine state and federal health funding to take control of hospitals and patient care.
Let us know your thoughts: How badly would you be affected if Medicare was shut down?
Professor Piccone and Health Minister John Della Bosca are now working on a plan to pool all state and federal health funding and have it redistributed by a joint partnership between the two governments.
Mr Della Bosca said the overhaul - the biggest since universal health care was introduced under Gough Whitlam - would deliver "a single mandate" of patient care.
In its first stages the move would address:
The 1000-odd state-run hospital beds occupied by elderly who should be in federally run nursing homes;
Overlap between drugs handed out in state-run hospitals and purchased via the federal PBS;
Revisiting the roles of various state and federally regulated medical staff in rural areas.
The plan would need Canberra's approval, but Mr Della Bosca said he was confident the Rudd Government would respond positively.
Should we have seen this coming?
All the way back in 2001, John Howard promised Medicare would remain, but it would be the Medicare that he and the 2001 Health Minister, Michael Wooldridge, had in mind: a shadow of the universal, bulk-billing, public system.
It seems that their long awaited dreams are finally coming into fruition after all.
http://au.biz.yahoo.com/y7finance_editorial/02062009/medicare_bad_health.html
英国现183米长巨型水母状麦田怪圈 为全球首例(图) 科技世界
北京时间6月3日消息，据英国《每日邮报》报道，日前，英国牛津郡金斯顿库姆比附近的一个麦田里出现了长约600英尺(约合183米)、僧帽水母形状的“麦田怪圈”，让许多人赞叹不已。专家称，这种图案的麦田怪圈在全球还是首例。 研究麦田怪圈的专家卡伦·亚历山大(Karen Alexander)称：“我们过去曾见过蝴蝶和鸟儿形状的麦田怪圈，水母形状的麦田怪圈在全世界尚属首次。它的大小是多数麦田怪圈的三倍，非常有趣。” 麦田怪圈一直让许多人无比惊讶，它完全是个庞然大物。亚历山大说：“我们正在调查它背后隐藏的含义，但目前还不知道它从哪里冒出来的。” 质疑者称，水母形状的麦田怪圈是牛津郡有人故意为之，目的是从威尔特郡的麦田怪圈收益中分得一杯羹。每年4月到9月的收获季节，神秘的麦田怪圈便会出现，这给当地带来数百万英镑的旅游收入。这个大水母在同威尔特郡350英尺(约合107米)长的阴阳符号形状的麦田怪圈较量中取得完胜。后者上周在德维茨(Devizes)附近一块大麦地出现。
英国出现183米长巨型水母状麦田怪圈 水母形状的麦田怪圈在全世界尚属首次 德维茨也是经常发现麦田怪圈的一个地点。麦田怪圈的形状并不完全都是圆形，与20世纪80年代出现的简单形状相比已有了很大差异。有人认为，神秘的麦田怪圈是艺术家在一大批志愿者的帮助下完成的杰作，但麦田怪圈爱好者不这样认为，他们说夏天夜晚较短，人们根本无法在悄无声息的情况下完成如此复杂的作品
http://user.qzone.qq.com/776820/blog/1244024255
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