Doctors’ fees
Sir, — We have an excellent general practitioner service in New Zealand, in contrast to health services generally, which, statistically, have sunk to an unenviable position among Western countries, particularly in infant survival, where we once led the world. Doctors certainly command top-bracket incomes, partly because, like lawyers, they have always enjoyed powerful compulsory unionism. But the question is, why did we abandon free medical attention, available for those needing it, in most comparable societies, particularly Britain? I await, without optimism, a declaration by National or Labour, or the two no-hoper parties, that the G.M.S. benefit will be restored to its true, pre-inflation value. I cannot face the future without medical insurance, and my premium has just been increased by 33 per cent to $431 a year, too much for a war service pensioner despised by this flag-waving, sabre-rattling Government. — Yours, etc., VARIAN J. WILSON. May 23, 1984.
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Press, 25 May 1984, Page 12
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149Doctors’ fees Press, 25 May 1984, Page 12
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