A National Public Health PolicyThe Communist Alliance supports a national public health system with high quality, free and accessible medical and dental treatment for all Australians. The key to overcoming the current crisis in our health system is to change the health for profit approach to a system where prevention and early intervention are the priorities. Primary care must become our front line defence for preventing disease and early detection of illness, the current system encourages patients to be treated like cattle. We would establish local community health clinics where local people would have their health monitored on a regular basis. We must have expanded team based primary care services in which GPs and specialists are salaried (as in hospitals). We need a system in which doctors are salaried employees of the national health system. This allows doctors to use their skills free of the pressures of the current piece work system. The health system should be based on prevention. It is cheaper and far better for people’s health. Under a nationalised health system, prevention helps eliminate the cost of more expensive procedures and a healthier population puts less demand on the health budget. Public hospitals face a funding crisis whether they are run federally or State managed, a large proportion of their budgets are spent on private services such as pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, and medical supplies and of course specialist services. These costs can only be managed under our plan for public control. The Federal Government must immediately increase its budget to at least 50% of public hospital funding. Our public health system faces a critical shortage of doctors and nurses. We propose a training plan where the number of training places would be increased and students choosing a medical career would be offered a scholarship in return for a 20 year contract, where they would agree to work in public service filling vacancies in public hospitals, in rural and indigenous communities and local area health clinics. This would start the process of moving health professionals onto a salary and breaking the inefficient fee for service system. The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme should be expanded with free prescriptions for age pensioners, the unemployed and other welfare recipients. The government should develop publicly owned pharmaceutical manufacturing. Mental health and aged care is best provided at a community level and would be best funded through local government. Public health must meet the needs of local communities, health clinics and hospitals should be within a close distance to where people live, local communities not bureaucrats should have a say on how their health facilities are managed, local hospital boards with representation from medical staff, council and the community are a better alternative. We stand for an end to government subsidies for private health insurance. Our health policy is for a Nationalised Public Health System with local control.
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