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THE election campaign battle over Medicare should come as no surprise. It echoes disputes during previous campaigns and have their origins in ideological divides that date back to well before Medicare was founded and have persisted through the subsequent political disputes. Labor sees the health of Australians as a matter of sufficient national importance that it requires government intervention; the Coalition sees it more as a matter of personal responsibility and individual choice.
The compromises struck in order to enact Medicare have meant that Australia’s healthcare has been a blend of public and private systems, with precise relationships, both competitive and cooperative, never fully delineated. The pendulum has swung in favour of one or the other aspect – public or private – depending on who is in government and the financial pressures of the times…
