Why private health insurance is a good idea

The government health system could simply not have afforded many of these procedures and would have covered it up by putting you on an interminable waiting list. The high cost of cardiac procedures is probably the real reason why the Queensland government has recently closed down or curtailed cardiac units

A claim of more than $300,000 for neurosurgery to repair a complex aneurysm has topped the 10 most expensive benefits paid by Medibank Private in the past financial year, setting a record. The fund will release its "chart toppers" today, which climbed to $2.3 million for the top 10 across Australia, representing an annual increase of 8.3 per cent. The highest benefit paid, of $304,119, was on behalf of a 59-year-old person from NSW, up from the previous financial year's top benefit of $276,247 for a coronary artery bypass on a 59-year-old person.

It was followed by a 46-year-old Victorian - the youngest person on the list - who required removal of a tumour from their adrenal gland at a cost to the fund of $283,211. The oldest patient was 83 and needed cardiac surgery, costing the fund $230,876. Last year, the largest benefit paid was $276,247 for a coronary artery bypass. Five of the 10 claims were for heart-related procedures.

The fund paid $1.95 billion for hospital, medical and prosthesis benefits in 2006-07, representing 750,000 hospital admissions. The five most common overnight procedures claimed for were natural birth, at an average cost of $5234, followed by caesarean ($7601), rehabilitation ($8546), knee replacement ($19,065) and keyhole surgery for gall bladder removal ($5120). The five most common same-day procedures were colonoscopy, at an average cost of $1321, chemotherapy ($547), renal dialysis ($351), gastroscopy ($924) and cataracts ($3096).

Medibank's industry affairs manager, Craig Bosworth, said the "chart toppers" showed that medical care was increasingly expensive. "The odds are at some point in our lives we will need to go to hospital. The other certainty is that health care costs will continue to rise and, as the chart toppers list shows, can hit incredibly high levels," he said.

NSW patients were paid a total of $485 million for hospital, medical and prosthesis benefits. The top 10 claims in NSW totalled $1.73 million, the same as Victoria, compared with $1.25 million for Western Australia, $1.69 million for Queensland, $1.14 million for South Australia, $787,000 for Tasmania and $529,000 in the ACT. In the NSW top 10, four claims were for cardiac surgery, two were for aneurysm repair, two for stomach surgery, one for vascular surgery and another for a complex fractured thigh which ranked seventh with a benefit paid of $134,435.

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Cricket transcends politics

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd took me-tooism to the next level when he spent a day at the cricket and had a stint in the commentary box at the MCG. While he described Bob Hawke as a cricket nut, and John Howard called himself a tragic, Mr Rudd declared himself a "cricket hopeful" with "abysmal" talents but a reasonable knowledge of the game.

Accused throughout the election campaign of mimicking the policies of his vanquished predecessor, Mr Rudd matched Mr Howard's affection for cricket when he attended the second day of Australia's first Test against India. And he followed Mr Howard and former Labor prime minister Mr Hawke behind the ABC and Channel 9 microphones. He told Nine viewers he grew up loving cricket, like any Australian kid, and was given a cricket set for his 10th birthday, but "I was no good at it". "I was abysmal, I had absolutely no talent, ability or timing," he said of his skills as a wicketkeeper for his school team in Queensland.

He was just as bad behind the stumps, he said, while playing for the Australian embassy in the embassies cricket competition during his time in Australia's mission in Beijing, but he insisted his skills were no worse than Mr Howard's off spin. "I think Mr Howard did for spin bowling what I did for wicketkeeping, which is not a lot," he told ABC Radio. He recalled his memories of catching the train from Nambour to Brisbane to sit on the hill at the Gabba as a 17-year-old watching Dennis Lillee and a current constituent, Jeff Thomson, batter England in the 1974-75 Ashes series. "I spent a day mesmerised by those two, it was extraordinary," he said.

Unless Mr Howard left his collection of green and gold tracksuits in the wardrobes at The Lodge and Kirribilli House, Mr Rudd received his first piece of official national sportswear today when he was presented with an Australian one-day shirt - number "07 Kevin", of course. And he said it would come in very handy to again emulate Mr Howard in his "morning or evening walk attire".

But he also addressed serious cricketing issues, saying he would soon speak to Cricket Australia officials about the March tour of troubled Pakistan and relations with strife-torn Zimbabwe. "On all these contentious tours, my approach is let's sit down with Cricket Australia and get the best solution," he told ABC. "Sport should be able to conduct its business where you can play the game safely ... I'm not into getting in the road of the game unnecessarily." [That politics should be kept out of sport was once a conservative catchcry. Rudd seems to have some respect for that view]

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Call for alcohol-free flights

ALCOHOL should be banned from flights if airlines cannot control drunken and aggressive passengers, anti-drug campaigners say. Incidents involving drunk and drug-affected airline passengers were behind almost a third of the 110 cases of disruptive behaviour reported to federal aviation authorities in the past two years.

Australian Drug Foundation spokesman Geoff Munro said yesterday that too many passengers were being served excessive amounts of alcohol and airlines which did not follow responsible serving regulations should face bans. "If the airlines can't ensure that their staff will serve alcohol in a responsible and legal manner then the ultimate sanction should be to withdraw the airline's licence to serve alcohol," he said. "After all, there can be no more dangerous place for people to be intoxicated. "It is extraordinary that air crews would be serving people to that degree because you would think safety would be their number one priority."

Last February, a Brisbane magistrate took a swipe at airlines for the way they manage passengers' alcohol consumption, while sentencing a man for his drunken mid-flight antics. Magistrate Jim Herlihy said airlines had strategies to deal with disorderly passengers and should take some responsibility for mid-air drunks. "Let's face it, the airlines fill them up with grog . . . and then tell them they're abusive," Mr Herlihy said.

A Qantas spokeswoman responded to the criticism, saying the airline took the supply of alcohol on flights seriously. Melbourne resident Gavin Wilson recently complained to Qantas and liquor licensing authorities in three states claiming his October 25 flight from Brisbane to Melbourne was ruined by three drunken passengers who became violent.

Federal Transport Department figures show 110 disruptive people on aircraft incidents were reported between January 1, last year and September 30, this year. Of these:

31 incidents involved intoxicated or drug-affected travellers.

13 per cent related to unruly or abusive behaviour.

Seven cases involved smoking on board.

Six people were removed from aircraft because of conduct.

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Quolls rule 'Island Ark'



THE endangered northern quoll may have escaped extinction after some were moved offshore in a landmark experiment that kept them away from the deadly cane toad. Dubbed "Island Ark", the $300,000 Northern Territory Government program to save the carnivorous marsupial with a taste for frogs has proved a "huge success". Rangers and local Aboriginal people gathered 65 quolls from Kakadu and rural Darwin. They were weighed and fitted with radio collars before being released on to the uninhabited Astell and Pobassoo islands, off North Eastern Arnhem Land, in 2003. Almost five years later the number of quolls has jumped to about 2000.

"It was a risky venture," said scientist Brooke Rankmore. "We were releasing a predator on to islands where it doesn't occur at the moment. "The populations are now considered to be about a thousand for each island, so we are just ecstatic at how well they are doing. It's been a huge success."

Cane toads have ravaged the world heritage-listed Kakadu National Park, killing everything which eats them, from crocodiles to quolls, as they move north to Darwin. Millions of goannas, snakes, birds, dingoes and other native creatures are believed to have died after eating the poisonous cane toad, since its arrival in Australia in the 1930s. The warty reptiles have spread from Queensland, where they were originally introduced to kill pests in the cane fields, to northern NSW and across into the NT.

"(Island Ark) is aimed to establish safe refuges for some mainland quoll populations on islands," scientist Tony Griffiths said. And both the islands' wildlife and the quolls appear to be doing well. "The animals appear to be healthy and are obviously thriving," said Dr Griffiths, relying on data obtained during a monitoring trip this month. "We were pleased to note that the translocated quolls have had no significant impact on the islands' conservation values."

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