Much as Gillard disgusts me I think that the means test on private healthcare is one thing that Labour got right. It makes no sense for a wealthy family to pay the same for healthcare as a middle class one. Health is the one thing that should be available to all, to best extent of our system possible. Medicare is pretty good compared to Britains NHS, and people can go private if they elect to and are insured.
The thing that irritates me about private healthcare here is their weasel exclusions and limits on ancillory claims. When you actually analyse what they pay for, its not a lot. I only have private healthcare as in the event of a hospitalisation or serious illness its going to save a lot of money but at my age thats unlikely. Also if I didnt have it I would have to pay still more tax to this pathetic government that throws it at special interest groups like water.
Having said something positive about the government for once, I feel ready to tee off at something really unjust - bracket creep. The tax rates for higher rates kick in too low and are not even raised with real inflation. Middle class Australia suffers a lot more from a greedy federal government's income taxes than it does from its healthcare free kick.
