The cost of staying in the govt General hospital for acute illness is $1000 a day. And for community public hospitals, it is several hundred a day. I heard the number $400 daily.
Compare this to staying in a budget hotel, plus simple food and employing a maid to look after the patient, it may not come to $200 a day. Just give the maid a little training or even even employed qualified foreign nurses will still be cheaper.
Incidentally how many people can afford $1000 or $400 a day if it is going to be more than a month?
I am guessing how much it will cost per day in Mt E or Gleneagles?
You have just illustrated the workings of a cartel or a monopoly.
ReplyDeleteMedicine and healthcare is rigidly controlled by the state — you need licenses and compliance among other things, and they all together create huge barriers to entry for any other would-be market participant.
Getting the state OUT of healthcare and medicine would be a start. Let private agencies be involved with VOLUNTARY accreditation of doctors, nurses etc. so that anyone can open up a clinic, hospital or even call himself a "doctor". Then the individual is free to choose, and free to decide where to spend his money, and on whom — even a quack, or non-accredited service provider.
You will then find costs plummeting . At the moment costs spiral upward — this is due to the fact that the market is closed.