Health Insurance
Can’t live without it, can’t afford it.
I’ve felt better
I’ve been up all night
I can feel it coming
The morning light
The air is so cold here
It’s so hard to breathe
We better take cover
Will you cover me?
Songwriters: David Gahan / Christian Eigner / Peter Gordeno.
The need for Health Insurance.
In Aotearoa, private health insurance was once a luxury. It enabled you to access elective and non-urgent medical care more quickly in surroundings with a better clientele, a car park right outside, nice food, and without having to wait for busy staff.
Some might have questioned the ethics of allowing some to access superior healthcare while others could not, but, by and large, for life-threatening, urgent care, you would get the same outcomes in public healthcare as in private care.
But we’ve been on a slippery slope, as the gap between the two has widened alarmingly.
Starting with the diagnosis. If you need a scan and you’ve got private medical insurance, you can get it arranged right away, as simple as booking a flight, on a day and time that is convenient for you.
Unfortunately, if you don’t, you’ll find there’s little capacity on those flights for you, and it’s more like people clinging to departing helicopters at the fall of Saigon. You might be turned away outright, or have to wait months, by which time the problem you were investigating may well have become a far more serious issue.
Then we have those awaiting surgery.
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