Corporations care about profits, not patients. When Simeon says 'I'd like to see as much elective service provided by the private sector as possible', we should be very worried.
Private equity is damaging to healthcare. More deaths, more infections, worse outcomes. Yet the current government is all but too happy to sell us down the river: toll roads, private schools, private hospitals: we are getting a raw deal, worse outcomes, and will be left footing the bill. All to the great benefit of the corporations.
Thank you for all you do to warn NZers about the growing crisis in healthcare Gary. The current government disgusts me. Healthcare is already dependent on post code which disadvantages many, and now it will be dependent on how rich you are. How did NZ let this happen?
Thanks Gary. What hurts is that this government is working overtime to benefit the rich - whether they be individuals or corporations. They are not in government to protect and uplift the people and the vulnerable of Aotearoa. The tired mantra from Act and the coalition and all their sycophantic heads in the media of ‘equality for all’ is so blatantly corrupted.
The recent murder in the US of the CEO of a Healthcare Insurance company revealed the even darker side of private health care and medical insurance - the same road we are heading down here in NZ, in summary it was health insurance corporations deciding whether people would be covered or not for medical treatment. The excessive profits made by these companies is gross. That we want to replicate this system is so heartbreaking.
Thanks for brilliantly making things clearer for people Gary!
I know they have been sneaking privatisation in for a long time, since well before the last govt...just less overtly so many people don't fully see and understand.
But now it's a major landslide and tipped the scales so dangerously we are about to lose our now skeletal public health system. The current coalition govt love to make things worse and blame labour as an excuse to go even harder on this. I hope the public won't buy this rubbish as things begin to escalate.
We must make this a one term govt and make it clear to all parties we won't tolerate this and also Labour need to know we won't tolerate them carrying on with this either. So many people think Labour is softer and better about health. In some ways that is true especially in rhetoric, but they have continually underfunded and snuck in more ability for the private sector to grab a hold here too and when they changed the previous system structure during covid, which I can't help but think that was by design, they have left our health system even more vulnerable.
Obviously, all I say is just my opinion. I also feel that the "the post code lottery" did exist but not in the way people think. I felt the problem was actually continual underfunding and a calculation model for allocating funding needs for the health boards was badly flawed. However, the new model was possible to make work, but not if still underfunded and needed intense planning. I felt it got pushed through too fast while everyone was distracted with Covid.
Outcomes are better in a well funded public system as Gary rightly proves. Our Collective communities cannot afford a private system unless you are majorly well off and even then it's not all that it's cracked up to be. All you need to do is look at the US and other countries.
Great article Gary. Apologies for such a long post. Frustration at successive govts got the best of me.
Thanks a lot, Garry, for your research. As privatisation is looking unavoidable the private companies should at least be made to pay the public hospital for any ongoing care of a patient shunted off to public with complications after surgery.
"The analysis concludes that there is no evidence supporting the hypothesis that transitioning from a publicly administered system to a privately dominated system will enhance efficiency. By contrast, there is strong evidence that overall efficiency increases with the public share of financing"
Public versus private healthcare systems in the OECD area– a broad evaluation of performance.
Private equity is damaging to healthcare. More deaths, more infections, worse outcomes. Yet the current government is all but too happy to sell us down the river: toll roads, private schools, private hospitals: we are getting a raw deal, worse outcomes, and will be left footing the bill. All to the great benefit of the corporations.
https://hms.harvard.edu/news/what-happens-when-private-equity-takes-over-hospital
Thank you for all you do to warn NZers about the growing crisis in healthcare Gary. The current government disgusts me. Healthcare is already dependent on post code which disadvantages many, and now it will be dependent on how rich you are. How did NZ let this happen?
Thanks Gary. What hurts is that this government is working overtime to benefit the rich - whether they be individuals or corporations. They are not in government to protect and uplift the people and the vulnerable of Aotearoa. The tired mantra from Act and the coalition and all their sycophantic heads in the media of ‘equality for all’ is so blatantly corrupted.
The recent murder in the US of the CEO of a Healthcare Insurance company revealed the even darker side of private health care and medical insurance - the same road we are heading down here in NZ, in summary it was health insurance corporations deciding whether people would be covered or not for medical treatment. The excessive profits made by these companies is gross. That we want to replicate this system is so heartbreaking.
Its frightening. Erosion, erosion everywhere. (my description, is ‘backwards’) I certainly will be sharing this. Thanks again.
Thanks for brilliantly making things clearer for people Gary!
I know they have been sneaking privatisation in for a long time, since well before the last govt...just less overtly so many people don't fully see and understand.
But now it's a major landslide and tipped the scales so dangerously we are about to lose our now skeletal public health system. The current coalition govt love to make things worse and blame labour as an excuse to go even harder on this. I hope the public won't buy this rubbish as things begin to escalate.
We must make this a one term govt and make it clear to all parties we won't tolerate this and also Labour need to know we won't tolerate them carrying on with this either. So many people think Labour is softer and better about health. In some ways that is true especially in rhetoric, but they have continually underfunded and snuck in more ability for the private sector to grab a hold here too and when they changed the previous system structure during covid, which I can't help but think that was by design, they have left our health system even more vulnerable.
Obviously, all I say is just my opinion. I also feel that the "the post code lottery" did exist but not in the way people think. I felt the problem was actually continual underfunding and a calculation model for allocating funding needs for the health boards was badly flawed. However, the new model was possible to make work, but not if still underfunded and needed intense planning. I felt it got pushed through too fast while everyone was distracted with Covid.
Outcomes are better in a well funded public system as Gary rightly proves. Our Collective communities cannot afford a private system unless you are majorly well off and even then it's not all that it's cracked up to be. All you need to do is look at the US and other countries.
Great article Gary. Apologies for such a long post. Frustration at successive govts got the best of me.
Thanks a lot, Garry, for your research. As privatisation is looking unavoidable the private companies should at least be made to pay the public hospital for any ongoing care of a patient shunted off to public with complications after surgery.
A recent article backs up your findings.
"The analysis concludes that there is no evidence supporting the hypothesis that transitioning from a publicly administered system to a privately dominated system will enhance efficiency. By contrast, there is strong evidence that overall efficiency increases with the public share of financing"
Public versus private healthcare systems in the OECD area– a broad evaluation of performance.
Open access:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10198-025-01767-6
I liked the homework task!