Why has health-care in NZ declined these past five years? In one line, it is because of the poorly thought out & economically unworkable "reform" of the system advocated by former PM Helen Clark's Chief of Staff, Heather Simpson. It became known as the Simpson Report and was published in 2020, the year coinciding with plummeting health-care services in NZ.
Here is the Executive Summary. As a reward, Simpson has recently been promoted to be a Director of Inter Island Ferry Procurement. That's how Wellington works. What was the ethos behind the Simpson Report? Essentially that economies of scale and better coordination would come from the creation of one gigantic centralized authority, called Health NZ, as well as the establishment of a new Māori Health Authority. In Simpson's world, centralized command systems, run by thousands of bureaucrats, is the best option.
Read the Executive Summary of Simpson's Report above. It does not mention the words "compete", "competing" or "competition", once in its 36 pages. Not once. Think that's bad? Read the full Simpson Report. It doesn't mention the words "compete", "competing" or "competition", once in its 274 pages. Not once. That saw the end of quality health-care services delivered at affordable costs in NZ. Every significant person knowledgeable in health economics stresses how competition amongst suppliers of health-care services is vital to achieve higher quality & deliver it more efficiently. That is how all of the best, most successful health-care systems in the world work today, even in socialist leaning France, let alone the likes of Canada, Singapore & Taiwan. All of those countries have universal health-care systems, everyone is covered, and people have choice where to go for the best service. The bills are paid either direct by the government, or by government sponsored national health insurance schemes. Not in NZ. We stand alone in the mistaken Simpson-style belief that creating a gigantic centralized leviathan, Health NZ, formed on the philosophical ethos that competition is bad, and centralization to achieve scale is good, is the way to go. Not sure NZ First Leader Peters agrees. He's the one who appointed Simpson to his Ferry Board.
Professor Robert MacCulloch holds the Matthew S. Abel Chair of Macroeconomics at Auckland University. He has previously worked at the Reserve Bank, Oxford University, and the London School of Economics. He runs the blog Down to Earth Kiwi from where this article was sourced.
Read the Executive Summary of Simpson's Report above. It does not mention the words "compete", "competing" or "competition", once in its 36 pages. Not once. Think that's bad? Read the full Simpson Report. It doesn't mention the words "compete", "competing" or "competition", once in its 274 pages. Not once. That saw the end of quality health-care services delivered at affordable costs in NZ. Every significant person knowledgeable in health economics stresses how competition amongst suppliers of health-care services is vital to achieve higher quality & deliver it more efficiently. That is how all of the best, most successful health-care systems in the world work today, even in socialist leaning France, let alone the likes of Canada, Singapore & Taiwan. All of those countries have universal health-care systems, everyone is covered, and people have choice where to go for the best service. The bills are paid either direct by the government, or by government sponsored national health insurance schemes. Not in NZ. We stand alone in the mistaken Simpson-style belief that creating a gigantic centralized leviathan, Health NZ, formed on the philosophical ethos that competition is bad, and centralization to achieve scale is good, is the way to go. Not sure NZ First Leader Peters agrees. He's the one who appointed Simpson to his Ferry Board.
Professor Robert MacCulloch holds the Matthew S. Abel Chair of Macroeconomics at Auckland University. He has previously worked at the Reserve Bank, Oxford University, and the London School of Economics. He runs the blog Down to Earth Kiwi from where this article was sourced.
8 comments:
Note that Bluebridge has quietly just purchased another ferry that will go into operation next year.
Private enterprise vs Government fumbling..........
Blue ridge has a new ferry. No endless back and forth by incompetent people. But then again Bluebridge is using Bluebridge money while this lot has an endless supply of public money
It gets worse... good ol Winnie has appointed Ferry procurement chair Chris Mackenzie, who lead the negotiations to buy back New Zealand’s rail assets in the late 2000s.
Thx for the unnecessary multimillion dollar tax bill Chris.
Perhaps Winnie learnt something from Ardern.
Why the hell do you need a Director of ferry procurement anyway, let alone a failed one who contributed in a major way to the dire state of our health system.
Does every project have to have a Board of Directors just to decide to buy something these days. No doubt they have their own personal budget to manage too - huge salaries, meetings, lunches, overseas trips to look at ferries!!!
Yet another Wellington rort with all the usual suspects, regardless of Party affiliation, being rolled out so they can screw everything up again.
Heaven help us, although it seems God no longer wants to defend New Zealand.
Keep in mind Folks, that Winnie P only agreed to appointment, one that would have been procured by our NZ Civil Service, to which Ms Simpson was an esteemed member and no doubt is still considered ' the good oil ' some very much like the Civ Servant (Sir Humphrey) in the TV show - Yes Minister.
Sorry Prof MacCulloch, be prepared for another 300 plus page report that will not doubt fail to mention anything about what ship we need and who will build let alone the cost.
No that will require another 300 plus page report from the Reserve Bank, or The Office of The Minister of Finance, who may need to seek advice from an outside source as the actual parameters for any interaction going forward.
Sound like Sir Humphrey ? Bugger!
Good God, THE Heather Simpson is still at work in the Deep State in Wellington. Somebody sack her. She's far too old now anyway !
Simpson is the “new” Margaret Bazley. Remember her? She could “ fix” things others couldn’t. Yeah right!
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