Edward Scicluna – "it's impossible for healthcare to remain free to all"
Edward Scicluna sucks up to his leader by swallowing some bitter pills
Last Monday on BondiPlus, when Joseph Muscat was busy lying about the government’s ‘plans’ to introduce payment for state health care, a video clip from an interview with Edward Scicluna was shown.
The good professor stated in categoric terms that it is impossible for health care to remain free – all services to all people – and that this would have to change. His leader, sitting there in the studio went red with rage, shouting that this was Edward Scicluna’s opinion and not the opinion of the Labour Party, and why doesn’t Bondi ask Scicluna about it and not him.
He was ridiculous.
“Because that man is your candidate and your adviser,” Bondi replied.
I could add – because I know – that Scicluna is an adviser to Charles Mangion in his role as shadow finance minister, and that he wrote Mangion’s most recent newspaper articles on EU funds.
So it’s a fair guess that when Charles Mangion becomes Finance Minister – oh dear, I like the man dearly but there are limits – Edward Scicluna will be the power behind this particular throne, and now we all know what his advice on state health care is going to be.
Of course, Mangion will be free to dismiss that advice, just as the prime minister has dismissed out of hand the consultancy report that his opposite numbers waved in his face on television last Monday and last general election.
But now we have learned how Muscat deals with the situation when his people present him with embarrassing situations: “I’m not responsible. Go and ask him.”
As Bondi said, you are responsible. The man is your candidate and you are his party leader.
‘Mur saqsi lilu’ – il-vera tal-misthija.
He must have made one hell of a scene when he left the studio, though, because now here’s the good professor, in damage control mode on – I love it – Zmesh Television.
Programm fuq SMASH TV fejn il- Professur Edward Scicluna jirrispondi diversi mistoqsijiet relatati mal-Ekonomija
L-Ekonomija u Int jerga lura fuq SMASH TV
===================================
L-EKONOMIJA u INT – Sahha b’xejn ghall-kullhadd
L-Erbgha 27 ta` Mejju fuq “L-Ekonomija u Int” ser niddiskutu – Sahha b’xejn ghall-kullhadd fit-8 ta’ filghaxija. Ripetizzjoni nhar is-Sibt fis-7 ta’ filghaxija.
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I think it would be of great benefit to have a minimum charge on hospital visits. In Sweden a flat rate system is used where everyone is paying a small fee on each visit, while any treatment above this fee is free of charge. Same applies to pharmaceuticals. It does decrease the number of visits for stupid reasons (we all know what they are), which would in turn keep the hospital in a less busy state, shortening queues, decreasing the use of security staff (speaking of, can anyone please explain to me why there have to be a security guard in every single ward of the hospital? Talk about waste). Having a nominal fee would still allow everyone to afford it, but perhaps they would think before they go.
Indeed.
The Federal Chamber of Doctors in Germany is an ardent supporter of the Swedish system.
You are being too selective about that program. On the whole Joseph ousted Gonzi big time! Gonzi was all the time on the defencive. Bondi, as espected, was helping Gonzi with these silly clicks which all they were meant to serve was to corner Joseph somehow. He didn’t succeed.
Alan. By any chance were you watching a cropped version on One! Dr. Muscat was constantly cornered by Bondi, Gonzi but more seriously by himself! If he was a boxer he would be Mohammed Ali….
….no, not in strength but in inflicted colour….
According to Daphne Gonzi was sick with exhaustion – i do not think its good to compare him to Mohammed Ali – unless its after a round of some heavy knock-outs!
You must have been watching some other program.
Ha nizvija daqsxejn id-diskors. This is hilarious:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muaAZE0M3LU
Kif il-madoffi ssibhom!
It will be interesting to see how Prof. Scicluna justifies his probable change of opinion.
But now we have learned how Muscat deals with the situation when his people present him with embarrassing situations: “I’m not responsible. Go and ask him.”
Daphne, Joseph should really sit down and watch the cute Walt Disney’s animated A Bug’s Life and he will surely learn something. Watch the part from 01.35mins to 02.33mins below – there’s a fine message for him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFoEF-3pwk8
I completely forgot about that movie. Joseph should really watch that scene. Maybe he’ll learn something about leadership.
true but Lawrence Gonzi also made two calossal mistakes:
1. not apologising for the way the PN media warped the immigrant voting issue
2 defending the way National Insurance was only stayed for those companies which “approached him”, raising the possiblity of unfairness
Jospeh Muscat should have capitalised on these two rare mistakes by Gonzi , instead he wasted this opportunity by harpering on the “free health” issue and scored an own goal. Probbaly the only winners from this debate were AD and AN , who just kept their mouths shut and let the other two leaders shoot themselves, and each other, in the foot.
Anoth er winner was Lou Bondi, showing yet again why he is one of the top journalists in this country.
Sorry PN, you’ve lost my vote in this election, it’s going to AD
Yes, Lino. Waste it on nonentities!
Do you realise that it is a transferrable vote? The only potentially ‘wasted’ vote, if any such thing could exist, is one that sticks to a single party and gets wasted at the end of the counting process (especially when there is no government at stake, such as in the EP election).
Take it as a protest vote then, Mario. I don’t care. I’m flying back to vote, for 35 euros, a bargain thanks to Air Malta.
Of course, come next general elections I will be more careful and transfer my other preferences through the PN candidates after AD. As long as Labour don’t get into government I’m not bothered. Can you picture Joseph Muscat as our new chav prime minister? The embarrassment!
It was a shabby show of insular partisan politics.
I can hardly note how the vote of 5 (6) Maltese MEP’s will (can) alter the course, which the “stronger” nations care to take when the veto prerogative is abolished.
I didn’t know the word calossal existed in the English language?
Maybe Lino grew up in l-Amerki
You must have been watching another programme, Lino. Muscat won hands down. Gonzi looked like a tired, sad old man and Bondi like an ever more desperate aide trying to prop his man up.
(PS: When they start nitpicking about the typos, you know they feel they are losing it)
Funny, really.
No, Muscat didn’t win hands down. Did you see the bit where he lost his cool and that fixed smile of his was replaced by seething anger? This was a fleeting moment, but it was enough to show Joseph Muscat’s real colours. You could see Gonzi became immediately and genuinely concerned that Muscat was going to say something really stupid and immediately played down the situation. Scratch the surface of new Labour and the ugly rusty old Labour seeps through. No amount of spray-paint will stop the rot underneath. I was almost embarrassed for Gonzi, having to listen to an hour of ranting by an immature chav. Gonzi deserves better opposition.
Like I said – you were watching something else.
Take my advice – talk to some people outside this forum and live in the real world.
Anna said:
“But now we have learned how Muscat deals with the situation when his people present him with embarrassing situations: “I’m not responsible. Go and ask him.”
When Gonzi is faced with a similiar situation, he says “It is one of the rainbow of opinions in the PN”. More elegant, perhaps, but the same substance really, isn’t it?
[Daphne – My God, you really are thick, aren’t you? No. One is brushing off responsibility and passing the buck. The other is accepting it. Joseph Muscat’s remark was distancing and excluding. Lawrence Gonzi’s was inclusive.]
Alfred Sant was entertaining to watch during debates, always surprising us with one of his bright ideas. Joseph is always irritatingly evasive. Even when asked about his non-declaration of having applied for a VAT refund on new cars, his reply was “Taf kemm applikaw Nazzjonalisti?”
“I did not have sex with that woman.” – Bill Clinton
Ettore, I did not say ” But now we have learned etc etc”. I was quoting Daphne there, so get your facts right and your act together. Thank you.
Imma Daphne kif jista’ Joseph jinkludi lil Scicluna jekk il-principji taghhom jew ha nghid hekk l-ideat huma differenti?
Il-qasma fl-MLP hija dejjem evidenti!
PN and MLP know very well that there should be some fees for health care and scrapping of stipends….anybody with some logic knows it.
The problem is how to do it without losing votes…..someone has to have the guts.
I would like to see real politicians, who stand for what they say. I must say that all our politicians are doing a disservice to the tax-paying public. It all started with an irresponsible Alfred Sant on the eve of an election who coerced Gonzi into declaring that health care will remain free of charge.
Now Prof Scicluna in his heart of hearts thinks what every responsible level-headed person on this rock is thinking: ” Why should the exchequer pay for the triple bypass operation of a millionaire, or for his Warfarin pills and syringes?”
I think that every patient should be means tested and asked to pay part of the bill. On the first anniversary of Mater Dei Hospital we had one of these rich people praising the service on television. Wasn’t Mater Dei built to provide a social service?
It’s like those so-called social housing units on the Pembroke foreshore. We are really a spoiled lot here in Malta. Social housing on prime sites for hotels.
I’m not a great fan of Dom Mintoff but he would have told his voters that yes, you have to pay part of the bill. He did it in 1971 when he said that the Gozo hospital was too big for Gozo and if he got elected he would stop the project because we couldn’t afford this luxury. He got elected, stopped the project and the hospital remained like that up till now.
This is the political litmus test for Professor Scicluna. He knows more than us that he is right on this one, but political expediency will dictate to him to remain silent. As for Joseph, this case only proves that he is already conducting a general election campaign for 2011. He doesn’t really care about the quality of his candidates. He is even presenting us with one who made the ultimate sacrifice of leaving his parliamentary seat so that he can become leader of the opposition – sort of seat swapping.
John Schembri, you have a short memory. Mine is a little longer and I can remember the time when Sant tried to introduce a minimal 50c charge on prescriptions with the aim of cutting down gross waste.
The PN cynically ran a major crusade against it – just for the sake of a few cheap votes.
He who sows the wind, reaps the whirlwind.
Ettore, the charge on prescriptions would have hit those who could least afford it. If someone is entitled to free medicines it means they have a low income.
I see that Antoine is still living in denial.
Antoine, you seem to be unaware of how the system works. There is a list (several lists, in fact) of scheduled illnesses. If you suffer from any one of them you are entitled to free medicine.
Income does not come into it.
Ettore, you seem to be aware of how only one part of the system works. The “pink card” which entitles a whole family to receive free medicines is issued according to income. Holders of the “yellow card” who suffer from certain chronic diseases are entitled to free medicines because the state acknowledges that they have a lot of expenses and need help.
These are the two categories that Alfred Sant wanted to tax.
Apparently, somebody ate his words:
http://www.maltastar.com/pages/ms09dart.asp?a=2158
Now Professor Scicluna has been downgraded to an ordinary politician.
Imma din il-mara ma tixbax timmeraviljani…. intant lil Casa?
http://www.illum.com.mt/2009/05/24/t9.html
Ghax tal-muzew kif jghidu:- Kull par ghal paru!!! Tifhem ghalfejn tahseb hekk mela
“Prof Scicluna said the track record of a number of EU Member States showed that it was possible for a prudent and responsible government to provide free healthcare for all if the public health system was based on solid foundations and was run efficiently. .”
This is utter nonsense. ALL heath systems in the EU are NOT FREE. The patient usually co-pays either by means of an insurance or by direct out-of-pocket contributions .The average patient co-payment s around 20%. Notwithstanding this, ALL health systems are facing difficulties. The reasons are newer, better but much more expensive medicines and treatments, and an aging population. I challenge Profs Scicluna to stand by the veracity of his statement, citing his sources.
As a professional who has dealt with the government on behalf of the private sector on health care many times, and with issues of money on the table, the government has always said “NO” in the most emphatic way to any proposals. be they internal or external, for patients to co-pay. That is the truth, and those are the facts, and I am on record stating this a year ago. I do agree that the patient should co-pay. I advocate it over and over again. Gonzi once told me not to bother him anymore on this because “payments for health” will be introduced over “his dead body”. That is a bloody fact. I don’t agree with this reasoning, but there it is.
Professor Scicluna is just trying to get on the health care bandwagon scaremongering campaign.
Anyone, regardless of political colour, who says that state of the art health care can remain free of charge for a long time to come, can only be credited with professional incompetence.
It is not only a pity, and a disappointment, but also an unforgivable error that Dr. Martin Balzan and Dr. Joe Cassar refrained from participating in the Realta discussion on One TV.
I tend to disagree with Leo Said about Realta. One does not go on the eve of an election ‘discussing’ a hot issue. The only loser would be the taxpayer. I haven’t seen or heard a good discussion programme on a Maltese station for ages. The one which I follow is “Stampa Cara” on RTK, but even on this programme one has to put up with the organised PL phone elves. A week ago it was hijacked by such people. In these programs one has to decipher what everyone is saying or trying not to say.