Tag: health

australian politics, politics

NSW Labor has a new tax scam. If you want a new car, I suggest you buy one now!

It’s been awhile since I have posted anything. The reason for that is because nothing exciting is happening despite that in NSW we are expecting to have two elections this year. A State election in March and a Federal election, possibly in May, depending on the shit storm in Canberra.

This morning I was reading the Daily Telegraph sipping my Nespresso latte’ with two sugars when I almost spat it out in shock and awe over NSW Labor’s new tax grab. I mean these cretins are not even in Government yet, and as my previous prediction still stands, they won’t win Government, but in order for them to fund more nurses and midwives – 5500 exact – they intend on increasing stamp duty on boats and cars. Now I don’t own a boat. Probably never will. However I do own a car and I think most Australians do. Now at the moment according to the Daily Telegraph, in NSW we pay $3 for every $100 in stamp duty for vehicles over $45,000. Under Labor’s new scam, they want to increase that to $5. Now, I am no socialist but pretend I am a left wing socialist luvvie, this is great news because it gets to fund for an extra 5500 nurses and midwives YAY!!!

Hold on!

Labor’s new scam will only generate $240million over three years yet it’s going to cost the Government about $500million to fund this policy. Shit! I am not that good at maths but isn’t that $260million short of $500million??

Hmmm.

So where will the other $260million come from? Even the NSW Labor Leader Michael Daley admits there is a shortfall but has declined to mention how they will fund for it.
Mr Daley goes on to say that the top end of town needs to pay their fair share, so is he suggesting that people in rural areas who are already struggling with farming costs, with the drought and lack of COAL power, that they are the top end of town? Many farmers own vehicles which often cost more than $45,000 to be able to perform their duties as farmers. This will just add further heartache for hurting farmers in the bush.

This scam by NSW Labor is just policy on the run. It is a feel good initiative for Labor to try and win votes from the apathetic voter. This is what Labor does best, they hide tax grabs by covering it up with feel good emotive populist policies. No Australian would say no to more nurses and midwives however it does come at a cost.

 

 

australian politics, health, politics

Social Justice Warriors target ‘OBESE’

Western Civilisation has a problem with overweight people. As a fat man myself I understand the risks involved in being fat such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. In Australia this is putting extra burden on our health system costing approximately $21billion in 2005[1], this figure can be assumed to have increased in 2017.  It is important for doctors to be able to tell their patients that they are overweight or for the mega fat – obese.

The social justice warriors within NSW Health have designed new guidelines to make it ‘offensive’ for doctors to tell their patients that they are overweight [2]. They want doctors to use friendly terms such as:

“Well above healthy weight”

They also do not want doctors to say “Skinny” or “malnourished” because these apparently stigmatise a condition and may significantly offend an individual.

The idea to tell a patient that they are obese is suppose to be a wake up call. As mentioned fat people are costing society, the taxpayer, billions of dollars in both direct and in direct health costs not to mention the emotional aspect it causes on family and friends if an individual develops health related complications due to them being fat.

Think about it, if a doctor told you;

“Sir/Madam you are Obese”

or

“Sir/Madam you are well above healthy weight”

Which one is more likely to be a wake up call?

Unfortunately people need strong words or some sort of negative event in their life to change their attitudes. Often people who have experienced a heart attack and have had either Stents put in or a By-pass, change their lifestyle because they have had an epiphany during their event.

This folly by NSW Health just demonstrates that our government departments have been taken over by social justice warriors. It has nothing to do about making life better, in fact this change will make fat people fatter, increase cost to our health system, and make it harder for doctors to actually treat patients. Shame on NSW Health, and shame on the NSW alleged conservative Government for allowing such nonsense to take place.

health

Warning! The Therapeutic Goods Administration has just increased your health costs.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) on 20th December 2016 announced that as of 1st February 2018, pharmacological products that contain Codeine will no longer be available over the Counter. Individuals with chronic pain will now be required to go to their General Practioner every time they need to restock on this essential analgesia. The reasons for making Codeine a prescription drug is because the TGA believes Codeine is addictive and has overall negative side effects. As Codeine has opioid qualities it does provide seekers an avenue for abuse. As for the side effects the TGA believes that it can be potentially detrimental to elderly patients which can often result in decreased renal function, increased falls and fractures and medication errors. Other people than can be affected by Codeine include paediatrics, people with liver issues and pregnant women.

The concern for dependency is real however the concern of potential side effects of codeine does not warrant it to be taken off our shelves. Paracetamol for example is a very Hepatotoxic drug when taking in large quantities, therefore those who have had a liver transplant or chronic liver disease are often advised to not take Paracetamol.

As codeine does have dependency qualities it is important that both Government and other health agencies work together to find a solution to avoid people from abusing Codeine, unfortunately this does require time and a lot of work but it’s not worth punishing the majority of people who do the right thing by taking it off our shelves.

As we live in a world where we need to be frugal with our finances, this decision by the TGA will do nothing but harm the patients they want to protect. According to the Department of Health in 2015/16 average patient contribution to their own health costed them $58.49 per service. Approximately 78.2% of services bulk billed. Health costs are already high and given the natural rate of inflation by 2018 one can assume these costs will be even higher. Thanks to the TGA, patients now will need to visit their GP more often just for a script which otherwise could have been sorted over the counter.