Sydney
14 July 2002
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School defies terrorism
Pope ‘force for freedom and good’
Vinnies reaches out: a new generation
Abuse allegations ‘devastating’
Caritas renews call for help as southern Africa faces food crisis
Jason scores with ‘no sex before marriage’
‘Return to the scapular’ call for feast day
Medjugorje visionary calls off visit
‘Boundless plains’ to share with refugees? - Spirituality in Pub
Health care ‘not a commodity’
Fr Pat goes back to St Pat’s for jubilee Mass
Queensland search for men to teach
St Vincent’s clocks up 1000
IVF baby farming banned - Govt ‘no’ to sale of eggs
Witchcraft move under fire
Editorial: Tangled web
Letters: Catholicism and the Royal Family
Conversation: Never say never - always hope - Larri Hayhurst, nurse educator
Reflections: Justice: what it means to me
Earthcare - a call to ‘expand our vision’
Opinion: Where young and old share the joy!
Comfort zone
Embryos used to find ‘morning after’ pill
Stem-cell research: Warning of embryo use in human tests
Stem-cell research: Legislation provides for ‘destruction of embryos’
Stem-cell research: ‘Key principle’ at stake
Stem-cell research: Risks to egg and sperm
Resurrection and ‘last things’ in Catechism series
Sing? Yes! Sing-along syndrome? No!
Inspirations: Joseph, 8, gives up toys for Cebu kids
Health care ‘not a commodity’
By Kathleen Carmody
Health care is a not a commodity for maximising profit, says Catholic Health Australia, the largest non-government provider of health, maintenance, aged and community care services in Australia.
In its mission statement for 2002-03, it describes health care as a “social good”.
“It is a service, not a commodity for maximising profit,” it says.
“The broader interests of society and the needs of the community are best served by a just, effective health system.”
A tension exists between the notion that the health care system is a free and open marketplace, where services have to be price competitive, and the traditional notion that health care is a service, Catholic Health says.
Catholic health and aged care is constantly threatened by issues such as competitive neutrality and market-based policies that create a complex deregulated market where individual health and wellbeing are traded off for a profit margin.
“Health care is never simply a business because it exists in response to the unpredictable needs of individuals and communities,” it says.
“It is a social good, a service to people in need and not therefore capable of being compared to a commodity for sale.”
Catholic Health Australia’s mission includes continuing to promote the not-for-profit status of its facilities and - within this context - building on the partnership with government and delivering health care to those in need, with a preferential service to the poor and the disadvantaged, the marginalised, and the frail and aged.
It also includes monitoring initiatives by governments that threaten its not-for-profit status, challenging the issue through public advocacy and seeking to engage with government to acquire the capital investment to continue to provide health care services in areas of need.
Archbishop George Pell has said that one of the key challenges for Catholic health services is not to become submerged in finance.
“We’re here to serve people; that humanitarian (aspect) is central to the Catholic tradition,” he said earlier this year on a visit to St Vincent’s Hospital.
Catholic Health Australia is defined by the foundational principles of dignity, service, common good, preference for the poor, stewardship and subsidiarity.
It describes as its goal “to be an advocate for a just, effective health and aged care system where resources are prudently deployed to promote and preserve human dignity, (and to) ensure a special concern for the poor, social justice, and the common good through an educative approach”.
Catholic Health Australia’s range of health and aged care services includes 17,000 nursing homes and hostels; 8,300 beds in 59 hospitals; 4112 people supported by Community Aged Care packages; 4729 Home and Community Care service recipients; and more than 25,000 staff.