Lengthy waiting times to see specialists practicing on the NSW North Coast and longer waiting lists for surgery are apparently not the fault of an ailing public health system, it's really the patient who is to blame.Here are a few quotes from the owner of Iluka's Wellness Centre in How to avoid the long hospital queue:
"Diseases like diabetes, bowel cancer, heart disease and the affects of smoking are illness that are often brought on because people made bad choices,"....
"People are entitled to eat junk food and smoke cigarettes, and sit on their backside and not exercise but if you want really good health I believe you've got to make some contribution yourself.
"And because this is such a lovely place to live we've got a huge influx of people coming here, and the queues to see specialists are getting bigger and bigger.".....
"The other thing important since I graduated is life expectancy. It has probably increased 20 years," ....
"So those people who aren't attending to health issues now aren't going to have a very pleasant last 20 years."....
"If you can afford to smoke and eat sausage rolls and fish and chips, then you can afford private health insurance."
To be fair The Daily Examiner also reports:
Dr Richards said the medical industry in the 20th century promoted dealing with the symptoms instead of preventing the illness in the first place.
He said this was convenient for doctors who were more concerned with 'paying off their mortgages'.
Still, it irks somewhat to find that this Iluka gentleman appears to believe that all would be well with the health system if there were either less people using it or more people paying to use it.
As to his claims about the affordability of health insurance - single aged pensioners in Iluka (with no other assets) who rent their homes for around the current average weekly cost and who get maximum rent assistance will still only have about $142 to $162 left each week to provide themselves with groceries, clothing, footwear, travel, medicines, et cetera even if they manage to keep their utility and telephone accounts at or below the low government subsidy.
Providing themselves with rather basic health insurance is likely to reduce that weekly amount in the pocket by another $15 to $30 per week and would likely see such pensioners have to do without a range of healthy foods or adequate clothing.
It was with some amusment that I noted the absense of alcohol consumption from the doctor's list of unwise lifestyle choices. But then quite a few in his profession are known to like a quiet drink or two.....
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