Do what they're meant to

AT the risk of readers choking on their Weeties, I'm in agreement with the health insurance lobby's Rachel David. Her piece 'ACT government health cash grab is hurting patients', Canberra Times 5 September, notes that Canberra's public hospitals have admitted 19,000 private patients, while some 2,000 public patients are stranded on waiting lists.

It makes a mockery of the healthcare system.

If state-run public hospitals prioritised public patients for a change, there would be no waiting lists.

State/territory government's are addicted to the extra income from private patients at the expense of the care of those public patients directly in their charge. It won't change. The double-dip is too lucrative. But it is a disgrace.

Brett Heffernan, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Private Hospitals Association. Published in the Canberra Times on 9 September 2025.

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