The Government have manufactured the public health crisis

Documents reveal Treasury’s warnings about Health NZ’s finances and board

Newly released documents are exposing how fearful the Treasury was for Health New Zealand’s financial position and how officials believed “no one inside HNZ appears to have a clear picture of what is going on”.

The documents also show Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ strong condemnation of the organisation’s former board that had allegedly not been monitoring declining productivity as she urged Health Minister Dr Shane Reti to intervene.

The Treasury reports, dated between January and July this year, describe the “exceptional burden” now facing Health NZ Commissioner Lester Levy as he strives to cut $2 billion in spending this financial year and make progress on the Government’s health targets, all while combatting weak internal controls, low morale and a “generally bad” relationship between the national office and the frontline.

Concern for Health NZ’s financial position became public as surprise resignations from the organisation’s board occurred in July before all positions were scrapped and replaced by Levy as commissioner.

Of course Treasury were freaking out!

This Government purposely under funded Public health so that they could manufacture a crisis and slash costs so as to fund their tax cuts and landlord loop holes!

Holding up Treasury shock at a funding crisis the Government has manufactured as justification for underfunding Public health is a level of sophistry only the political Right are capable of!

In the Budget, National allocated just 2.9% increase to health services but inflation was 3.3% and population growth 2.6% while an ageing population adds more to costs.

National gave 2.9% for health but we needed 8% to stand still, is the electorate dumb enough to fall for National’s latest manufactured public service crisis to introduce more failed free market reforms?

The Minister says we can’t afford $1.4billion for health but we could borrow $14billion for tax cuts, again is the electorate dumb enough to believe this?

I don’t think people appreciate just how radical our neoliberal reforms were to public services and no where can you see the grim truth of throwing out egalitarianism and progressive fairness for money and profit margins better than this brilliant Stuff article that highlights the terrible legacy of fucking over our public health system.

Look at these stats and gasp in horror at what we have wrought…

…people claim this can’t be true, but the facts stack it up and it is true.

We have progressively decreased taxing the richest to fund out public services until the public services fall over and the public scream ‘something must be done’ and the Right ‘here’s something’ and they privatise a little more and you get even less.

The ease with which the sleepy hobbits of muddle NuZilind are led to give the rich more while hurting the poor is a Kiwi super power.

Feel shame at how you anger is manipulated by the Right every election Kiwi.

Let that shame burn!

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