Private Hospitals Set to Fight the Blood Sucking NSW Government

21 November 2008

Private hospital representatives in NSW today agreed to fight the NSW Government’s announcement that they will soon be charged for blood and blood products. At a meeting held this morning, representatives resolved to examine all options in order to ensure this unfair discriminatory measure does not proceed.

“This is effectively a tax on the sick and a way to get private patients to pay twice for blood,” said Michael Roff, CEO of the Australian Private Hospitals Association. “All Australians have already paid for blood through the tax system. NSW is now trying to make private patients pay twice which is discriminatory and excessive.”

“Private patients who have taken out private health insurance should be rewarded for taking responsibility for their own health and for easing the burden on an over-stretched health system. They should not be slugged with another cost, especially one they have already paid for through their taxes,” continued Mr Roff.

“People give blood freely and expect to be able to receive blood freely. Under this scheme nearly half of the NSW population will be hit with this extra cost should they need blood.”

“The NSW Health Minister has declared that the state is currently subsidising the cost of blood that is supplied to private hospitals, while charging for the blood used by the public hospitals. This could not be further from the truth. No hospital, public or private, is currently being charged directly for the blood they use. NSW Health does ‘charge’ Area Health Services for the supply of blood that they receive, but this is really just an internal accounting fiddle between two sections of the same government department.”

“To date, the NSW Government has been unable to advise private hospitals how they will implement these charges or how they will determine how much each hospital will be charged. This leaves the private hospitals no choice but to examine all options to see how to block this measure,” concluded Mr Roff.

-Ends –

Notes to Editors:
1. The National Blood Authority is funded by a combination of Federal and State Government measures in order to coordinate the collection and supply of blood.

For further information, contact:
Lisa Ramshaw, APHA Public Affairs Manager, tel. 0413 971 999