19 March

Medicare is a universal health care system in name only, since John Howard introduced public subsidy of private health insurance. And that was always the plan, to destroy Medicare, which the Liberals hate and have always hated. They destroyed it once already, under Malcolm Fraser. They know it’s popular, so under Howard they decided to destroy it gradually rather than suddenly. And how did they do it? They targeted status, which humans want more than anything else. People want private health insurance because they want to jump queues, to go beyond the public/Medicare option. The same happens with private schools, the Liberals are smart, they know if they target status, people will climb over each other to have it. And doctors love private health insurance because it makes them exceedingly rich, increasing their status enormously. The whole lot will collapse with an ageing population.