yep. Usury and not ok. I read somewhere today an article about “the middleman”. I can recall a discussion with the head of treasury many years ago when privatisation as happening about the long term consequences.
The public sector is not the way to create efficiency but privatisation has not led us anywhere good either.
We used to talk about a “voucher” system to enable consumer choice (your version of giving money direct to families) but that assumes the competitive forces will keep prices under control. I suspect that the idea that competition works to achieve some sort of sense is deeply flawed. There are many ways that pricing works across competitors and not in favour of consumers and if competition doesn’t really exist (including the do nothing option) then the consumer is a bit stuffed really. I think that’s the case in aged care - a buyer that doesn’t have the do nothing choice, inadequate options, an inappropriately regulated sector, and a bureaucratic system that is opaque to say the least.
