04 AUGUST 2008
Fee control labelled “medical slavery”
Liane Topham-Kindley
tophamkindley@xtra.co.nz
A little-known political party has taken the after hours fee issue on board claiming fee control is a move towards nationalisation of general practice.
Libertarianz health spokesperson Richard McGrath has picked up on a Ministry of Health report into after hours services which identifies high fees as a problem and raises fees control as a possible solution (nzdoctor.co.nz, ‘Daily news’, 30 July), labelling it “medical slavery”.
He says any price controls imposed on doctors for the provision of after hours services would be tantamount to nationalisation of their businesses.
“As every GP knows, running an after hours medical service is very expensive and often uneconomical. There has to be some disincentive for patients to get doctors out of bed in the middle of the night, or the service will end up being abused,” Dr McGrath says in a press statement.
He believes if doctors cannot set their own fees they will be overrun by the increased demand that results from lower prices.
“If a businessman can’t set his pricing structure then he is little more than a slave to his customers.
“This is a recipe for stress, burnout, career change and a resultant doctor shortage. A shame the policy analysts at the Ministry of Health can’t seem to integrate basic economics into their pointy heads.”
Matter close to home for health spokesperson
The matter is close to home for Dr McGrath who is, in fact, a GP in Masterton. He is against the notion of any fee control in general practice believing this would seriously impact on the future of the profession as young graduates are unlikely to be attracted to the vocation.
The Libertarianz party has a deregulation policy for health which involves privatisation of public hospitals and opening the health market up to competition. There would be no government subsidy for health, instead a shift of responsibility for arranging healthcare back to those who receive it.
Income tax would be abolished completely after five years with the Libertarianz encouraging everyone to open medical savings accounts to use their own funds to pay for health services.
After hours rates
Dr McGrath is a police doctor in Masterton and says this puts the matter into perspective when he gets paid $100 automatically for getting out of bed for Police calls. On average, he is paid $200 for a callout.
If GPs are not adequately reimbursed for after hours care they are simply not going to do it, he believes.
“I don’t mind doing it [after hours work], as long as I can charge a fair fee for the service.”
No free care
However, he is a little at odds with GP colleague Nikki Turner, spokesperson for the Child Poverty Action Group, who would like to see free care for children not only after hours, but around the clock.
Free healthcare will help turn New Zealanders into “welfare junkies”, Dr McGrath claims, citing the UK as an example where he says the free system is being abused.
Dr Turner welcomes Libertarianz input into the debate and believes there is room for free market policies but with a social conscience.
“There are ways of keeping GP salaries up and moving the costs of healthcare for children down,” she says.
Government subsidy considered appropriate
NZMA GP Council chair Mark Peterson says his organisation supports the Government’s moves to make healthcare accessible and believes a government subsidy is the best way to achieve this.
More freedom, less government
More freedom, less government is the catch-phrase for the Libertarianz party which was established in 1995. It believes individuals have the right to live as they see fit and to organise their own finances to pay for services as they deem best, rather than a government-imposed tax system.
Dr McGrath has been the party’s health spokesperson since joining in 1996. He is standing in the Wairarapa this election as an electorate candidate.
Libertarianz has no seats in Parliament and enjoyed its greatest success at the election in 1999 when media personality Lindsay Perigo helped the party gain 6000 votes.
_____________________________________________________________________
Feedback
From Masterton GP Richard McGrath
To address the concerns expressed by Dr Bryan Moore, and further to the news item that appeared on nzdoctor.co.nz yesterday – there is one political party which would address the issue of fees control, fees review and all the other nonsense inflicted on the profession by politicians.
Libertarianz believes the medical profession should be left alone by government to set its own fees. The quid pro quo would be that doctors (and other health care providers) don’t receive any taxpayer subsidy.
However as a Libertarianz government would let everyone keep the first $50,000 of income tax-free and abolish GST, all New Zealanders would be able to afford to purchase health care.
Covering up the true cost of medical and other services with subsidies simply serves to devalues us as GPs.
Both Labour and National (who I refer to as Labour-lite as John Key is doing a me-too with just about every policy of the current government) have no plans to depoliticize health, but the Libertarianz Party certainly would, if given the chance.
That’s why I’m their health spokesman and standing as a candidate for them this year!
« Daily News Archive
« Go Back