In denial

We absolutely have to have a massive redistribution of existing healthcare funds into preventative healthcare including a major component of community education that ensures people understand that their life choices have consequences and what those consequences may be.

We need all of health taken over by one jurisdiction, probably the Commonwealth. We currently waste about $3 billion in overlaps and duplication plus some unknown amount spent surreptitiously trying to shift costs from one jurisdiction to another.

Then, once we’re sure we won’t be wasting money propping up currently failing strategies, we must have a further massive injection of funds into healthcare to maximise the rate of change to a new model while minimising the current human cost of those changes.

Australia is facing an unmeasured crisis from the convergence of several well-established trends. Dealing with that crisis demands something more than simply more of the same: it is our current healthcare models that are at least partly responsible for the current crisis.

Dealing with that crisis is going to be painful, especially for those who are currently most dependent on the healthcare system (of whom I include some of my family) and holding our nerve is going to be difficult. Unfortunately, we now have little choice. In five years time, we will have no choice. Now is the time to begin debating and developing our new approach.