|
||||
| Home | | | Opinion | | | Features | | | International | | | In Dutch | | | Dictionary | | | What's On | | | Jobs | | | Housing | | | Expats | | | Blogs | | | Books |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Hospitals to get green light to pay dividends to private investorsWednesday 08 February 2012 Health minister Edith Schippers will tomorrow submit draft legislation to parliament allowing hospitals to pay dividends to private sector investors, the NRC reported on Wednesday. At the moment, hospitals are not allowed to pay dividends, but the minister hopes the change will make it possible for hospitals to attract outside investment such as from pension funds, the paper says. The eight university teaching hospitals will not be allowed to pay profits to investors. In addition, in order to discourage private equity firms targeting short-term gains, investors will only qualify for dividend payments after three years. Liberalisation The paper says the move is the latest step in the liberalisation of the hospital sector. The Netherlands has some 90 hospitals and 270 independent clinics. Investors will also be given a say in the hospital policy, the minister is quoted as saying. ‘Doctors will remain the boss in their surgeries, but investors will look critically at the company’s efficiency,’ she said. ‘Is the work done efficiently? If not, they won’t invest.’ It could be that investors demand a hospital stop carrying out certain treatments because they are not done well, the minister admitted. ‘That is not a problem because other hospitals will carry out the same treatment better and more efficiently,' Schippers told the paper. © DutchNews.nl
When will people learn that profit has no place in healthcare? By Kevin | February 8, 2012 4:09 PM It is the ultimate betrayal of those who require care due to illness that investers decide whether treatment should be warranted. Who is paying Edith Schippers to pass this disastrous bill? Do you wonder why your medical insurance has been going up and up? This is theft from the many by a few to increase their wealth. It's been done for 10 years in the U.S. and that's why 98% of the masses in the U.S. is now broke and lives below the poverty line. Give Edithc Schipper the boot. Create a petition, send it to everyone you know and stand up to her selling you out to the highest bidder, i.e. Dutch Corporations. By Gerry | February 8, 2012 4:42 PM The final end of decent health care for NL. Now the hospitals will also start rejecting patients within a year. You heard it first here folks! By Bill | February 8, 2012 4:53 PM Something similar happened in the UK during the Labour government when private firms were allowed to build hospitals and contract with the government for the provision of services from building maintenance to clinical provision. It was called the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) or sometimes Public/Private Partnership (PPP). It was supposed to bring the benefits of business efficiency to the public sector. Now it has been found that many of the contracts are more expensive than thought. The Conservative government is driving the process further. By Edward | February 8, 2012 4:58 PM @Kevin - get real, healthcare IS profit! Google 'Big Pharma'. By woods | February 8, 2012 4:58 PM Hi, By Terence Hale | February 8, 2012 5:25 PM Who pays Ms Schippers? I don't know for sure. Ask the CVZ, whose medical advice she follows, at the cost of patients' lives. Perhaps that 'independent' quango advises her on financial policy too. You can also ask the American AON, which has ties with Achmea and that firm's spin-off, Agis. AIG used to have these ties, but it had to dump them during the first American stimulus bailout. "Amerikaanse Toestanden" have been in Nederland for years, while the politicos said they'd never come. Welcome to the free market. By Husserl | February 8, 2012 5:40 PM Bad news for NL health care... By Meh | February 8, 2012 7:14 PM Investors are so saavy about efficiency in every industry aren't they.?. Let's take a quick look: Did TNT make the postal service more efficient? (perhaps for TNT investors it did!) Do NS & ProRail , etc. make transport more efficient?? (perhaps from their own narrow profit viewpoint they do.) What will it cost healthcare patients for this investor efficiency when it is imposed? By BizarroNL | February 8, 2012 11:08 PM The birth of a new (Cartel) profit over health, very sad indeed. The quality of our politicians, is a reflection of the society we live in today. By Highlander | February 9, 2012 6:02 AM I am having difficulty reconciling the conflicting aspects of paying dividends with this previous news item: http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2012/02/hospitals_want_more_money_from.php From the former, I would assume that there is no money for dividends, and the hospitals are already cash strapped. By H. | February 9, 2012 1:36 PM H. - this is exactly why allowing the hospitals to pay out dividends is being implemented, in order to privatize them and make them profit making (?) businesses - instead of businesses that are really focused on human health care. The dividends are not there yet - this is just opening the door to privatization. By Bill | February 9, 2012 5:02 PM
Comments have been closed for this article. |
| Newsletter | | | RSS | | | Advertising | | | Business services | | | Mobile | | | Friends | | | Contact | | | About us | | | Tell a Friend |
|
||||||||
It is good to invest in people's health. Aint it?
By dork | February 8, 2012 4:07 PM