43. Preventive Health Cuts

Hi. I am Greg and I want to grumble about the Federal government terminating the National Partnership Agreement on Preventive Health.

The agreement is, or at least was, where the Federal and State government cooperated and funded key preventative health programs to keep Australians healthier.

But in the Federal Budget, the Commonwealth unilaterally terminated the agreement. This was lost in the plethora of other budget cuts – including in the health area, but given the importance of prevention, and the potential future budget savings, was this really a good move?

Well, last month in Senate Estimates Committee, Labor Senator Jan McLucas asked why the Agreement was cut – and the answers would have been funny if it wasn’t so serious.

The Department of Health’s first response was that it was a government decision (meaning not the Department’s) but that there was duplication and overlap with services the states provided. When asked how they made that judgement, they said that a review was undertaken.

When asked whether the review had been published, we found out that it was not finished. The “formative work” had been done but the next stage was to consult with the states and territories. So, they thought there was duplication, but did not bother to check with the states who were providing the programs on the ground.

In fact, on further questioning, it was clear that the Federal Department didn't really have detail on what activities were actually funded. Oh, and the review was not really about the “population outcomes” – ie. about whether the programs were actually working.

And when Greens Senator Penny Wright asked what impact cutting those preventive health programs might have on hospital care and potential savings on the health budget, again the Department could not tell us and said it was impossible to know.

So all that was both sad and farcical, and I haven’t even mentioned the quibbling over whether it was correct to say the programs had been “cut” when really all that had happened was that the Commonwealth had defunded them.

But the bottom line is, we cut prevention programs with no evaluation of their effectiveness, then say we have to charge fees for doctors’ visits and wind back our universal health care system because there are too many people getting sick. Hmmm.

I am Greg and I am grumbling.

*Disclosure: SACOSS received funding for a project officer under the Healthy Workers Initiative.


This Grumble can be heard online or by podcast.
First Broadcast: 15 July 2014