The row pitting a tier one private hospital and a leading insurer currently playing out in the media is just a tip of the iceberg in an industrywide problem. The Covid-19 triggered reduction in patient numbers and hospital revenues notwithstanding, it is time we start interrogating this chronic underlying health system concern.
Dwindling margins for insurers, rising premiums for patients and employers, as well as constrained hospital cash-flows and liquidity. Looked at jointly, these three are the fundamentals needing scrutiny.
