Kevin Rudd's attempt to take over the national hospital system seems remarkably similar to a blood transfusion. It occurs one drip at a time !
Instead of presenting the proposal with all the relevant details to the state premiers the prime minister has offered a vague outline - and then proceeded to offer cash inducements to try and win their approval.
It almost seems like some sort of auction, with the latest offer being an injection of $ 650 million to finance 90,000 elective surgery procedures, using public patients in private hospitals where necessary to relieve the backlog.
This joins a previous $ 739 million for aged care and brings the " incentives " for the states to climb aboard to $ 2.97 billion.
If the state premiers can not be certain just what this Federal offer really means, then the general public is left completely in the dark !
It seems that with a host of other policy failures hanging over the " Education Revolution " school funding plan and the debacle of the insulation scheme the government is desperate to get some runs on the board to go to an election with some sort of credibility.
" Drip feeding " the details of hospital policy sounds more like spin - and smoke and mirrors - than a practical, well thought out policy.
The states are justified in treating it with caution !
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