The government intends to ruin Australia's private medical insurance system. With privatization Medibank Private Health Insurance will become like all the other funds. The Commonwealth bank was once owned by the government It is now just another bank.
At the moment Medibank has two "branches". One (Medicare) refunds part of the fee charged by specialists, blood tests and various bills from hospitals. The other is a private health insurance fund. There is a problem here, however. Medibank and Medibank Private are both registered names held by the federal government. How can a public company and a private company use the same business name?
One of these will have to change its name. People are being offered shares in Medibank Private. How long can this be allowed to continue? Isn't it illegal? Future shareholders must be told what will be done about this. A change in name will have a disastrous affect on the value of shares.
There is no doubt that Medibank Private is subsidized by government. Share values will fall as it becomes just another private fund. Surely investors can see this - maybe they are too thick to understand. Medicare, Medibank: what's the difference?
Health by Ty Buchanan
