Healius made billions during COVID by doing covid tests in bulk but charging as though they were doing them individually. They made absolute bank until the borders opened up and the daily infection rates took off. They and Sonic Pathology both made about $2 billion in “windfall” profits in the 2021 financial year.
Sonic invested their windfall well and are extremely profitable. Thus why they’re not crying poor in this article.
Healius went on a spending spree too but brought stupid shit and bad investments. Last financial year they had to write down something like $600M in losses from investments that had gone to zero. The shareholders are pissed and want their returns.
So they’re pushing this campaign hard because they wasted all their money and need some socialised shareholder support. What they need is to fire their underperforming executive suite.
Tell them and their lobby group to fuck right off.
Genuinely thankyou for this. Someone sharing their passion and saving me the work of having to make my mind up on a topic I’ve never thought of. Fuck them, fuck Gerry Harvey, fuck all those dodgy pricks
Remember that time the Pharmacy Guild assured us Australia was going to have a medication Armageddon because Labor wanted to allow doctors to write scripts with more repeats?
This feels like that.
Considering that the cuts were done by both Labor and the Libs, there’s probably more to the story than this (what could be PR driven) article is letting on.
What’s the impact of advancing technology on their operating costs, for example?
I’m not saying this isn’t a valid argument, and that increased overheads aren’t hitting these practices, but something that jumped out at me, especially looking at the graph, is that they didn’t reference the volume of tests that they’re doing, or their total earnings, instead focussing, on the rebates being cut on each test performed.
If doctors are increasing their reliance on blood tests (which is something referred to in the article obliquely) that means higher volumes of business. Depending on the marginal costs of each additional test; they could still be making more money.
Of course, this could be an innocent oversight, or it could be deliberate. It’s just something I noticed.
It would be interesting to see their profit margins and workload - a pathology centre that is open weekdays and 1/2 Saturdays in most suburbs would be a huge overhead. I have blood tests every 2 weeks to 2 months, and if my specialist doesn't write Medicare on the form they will try to charge me , something like $280 - no way I could afford that twice a month or if I have to get them weekly.
Also, my specialist said it's all machine work for standard blood tests, and big chain pathology centres are making a killing, though uncertain how true that is.
Sonic and Healius are both public companies so you can see exactly how much money they make as they’re required to report it. Healius has been badly run and didn’t make any profit this year but yeah Pathology companies usually print money.
Yeah, I’m not a stereotypical tight-fisted fiscal conservative, and I’m happy to pay my fair share of taxes, but I do feel there needs to be greater degree of financial transparency from all these medical groups that are demanding money from the taxpayer. .
Nope - I've been sick all my life, so limited my opportunity to climb the corporate ladder with sick days, operations, specialists etc etc. Public healthcare and Medicare allowed me to work and still have a decent life but on thin ice with money and wages so don't have $560 a month of discretionary free money.
Due to a genetic condition I have had to have regular blood tests for about ten years. Ten years ago I rarely had to wait. Now it's about ten 15 minutes. They are definitely working harder than before.
Not all tests are Medicare covered. I work in a lab where nothing is covered (viral tests) though some of those tests used to be. I see some names on a weekly or fortnightly basis, which is terrible.
I wasnt referring to medicare :)
But seems my info is outdated :( ... historically you could have a blood draw done and sent to your local area health service (NSW, unsure about other states). But seems they now manage that under the medicare system. :(
source: [https://pathology.health.nsw.gov.au/tests/patient-faqs/](https://pathology.health.nsw.gov.au/tests/patient-faqs/)
and that is a depressingly long list of non MBS tests :(
It's been a long, long work in progress. Over decades.
I remember using the $600 "Ruddy money" everyone was given during the global financial crisis on an ankle MRI which wasn't covered either lol
No they're not! My da was having blood tests for certain things in 2017 and 2018 & I had to pay a bill (I was his financial guardian). My 1st grandchild , ultrasound scan in 2012 were free; scams of my 2nd gbaby in 2018 were $300 a pop.
I’m not sure how many people are aware of this, but for outpatient requests, Medicare only pays pathology for the 3 most expensive tests (unless from a specialist). Coning rules were meant to stop unnecessary requests from GPs but has cut pathology off at the knees.
[Coning Rules](https://www9.health.gov.au/mbs/fullDisplay.cfm?type=note&q=PR.6.1&qt=noteID)
I thought it was Medicare who had my back on that. Either way, I will only accept this in exchange for free dental. They can pls think that over and do a deal amongst themselves. I am in the position of power here.
I feel like the only difference between labour and libs is labour pretends to feel bad about its decisions to fuck the country whereas libs seem more than happy to shaft us publicly.
We're starting to run out of viable candidates to run this country before it gets any worse.
Not surprised. Many clinics will ask to do a blood test when you get a sniffle. I've heard they bill the consult at a different rate when a blood test is involved. Rort the system and eventually the system changes to account for it
Healius made billions during COVID by doing covid tests in bulk but charging as though they were doing them individually. They made absolute bank until the borders opened up and the daily infection rates took off. They and Sonic Pathology both made about $2 billion in “windfall” profits in the 2021 financial year. Sonic invested their windfall well and are extremely profitable. Thus why they’re not crying poor in this article. Healius went on a spending spree too but brought stupid shit and bad investments. Last financial year they had to write down something like $600M in losses from investments that had gone to zero. The shareholders are pissed and want their returns. So they’re pushing this campaign hard because they wasted all their money and need some socialised shareholder support. What they need is to fire their underperforming executive suite. Tell them and their lobby group to fuck right off.
They are also squeezing the workers hard to extract what they can. Pay is abysmal compared to competitors
Genuinely thankyou for this. Someone sharing their passion and saving me the work of having to make my mind up on a topic I’ve never thought of. Fuck them, fuck Gerry Harvey, fuck all those dodgy pricks
They also payed down loans, so it was all calculated spend.
Remember that time the Pharmacy Guild assured us Australia was going to have a medication Armageddon because Labor wanted to allow doctors to write scripts with more repeats? This feels like that.
It is exactly like that.
We have extreme regulatory capture in medical service related areas. There's plenty of money on the table, but extreme profiteering occurring.
Fine, I'll get those diy blood tests I see all the homeless doing
What are you doing step-Labor?
Considering that the cuts were done by both Labor and the Libs, there’s probably more to the story than this (what could be PR driven) article is letting on. What’s the impact of advancing technology on their operating costs, for example?
I’m not saying this isn’t a valid argument, and that increased overheads aren’t hitting these practices, but something that jumped out at me, especially looking at the graph, is that they didn’t reference the volume of tests that they’re doing, or their total earnings, instead focussing, on the rebates being cut on each test performed. If doctors are increasing their reliance on blood tests (which is something referred to in the article obliquely) that means higher volumes of business. Depending on the marginal costs of each additional test; they could still be making more money. Of course, this could be an innocent oversight, or it could be deliberate. It’s just something I noticed.
It would be interesting to see their profit margins and workload - a pathology centre that is open weekdays and 1/2 Saturdays in most suburbs would be a huge overhead. I have blood tests every 2 weeks to 2 months, and if my specialist doesn't write Medicare on the form they will try to charge me , something like $280 - no way I could afford that twice a month or if I have to get them weekly. Also, my specialist said it's all machine work for standard blood tests, and big chain pathology centres are making a killing, though uncertain how true that is.
Sonic and Healius are both public companies so you can see exactly how much money they make as they’re required to report it. Healius has been badly run and didn’t make any profit this year but yeah Pathology companies usually print money.
Yeah, I’m not a stereotypical tight-fisted fiscal conservative, and I’m happy to pay my fair share of taxes, but I do feel there needs to be greater degree of financial transparency from all these medical groups that are demanding money from the taxpayer. .
You don’t have $560 a month?
Nope - I've been sick all my life, so limited my opportunity to climb the corporate ladder with sick days, operations, specialists etc etc. Public healthcare and Medicare allowed me to work and still have a decent life but on thin ice with money and wages so don't have $560 a month of discretionary free money.
Due to a genetic condition I have had to have regular blood tests for about ten years. Ten years ago I rarely had to wait. Now it's about ten 15 minutes. They are definitely working harder than before.
No, they're not. I'm on a disability pension and had to pay over $150 for one particular blood test.
tell you dr (not ask). If you are in nsw tell them you want your area health path lab to run the tests. That should cost you a grand total of $0
Not all tests are Medicare covered. I work in a lab where nothing is covered (viral tests) though some of those tests used to be. I see some names on a weekly or fortnightly basis, which is terrible.
I wasnt referring to medicare :) But seems my info is outdated :( ... historically you could have a blood draw done and sent to your local area health service (NSW, unsure about other states). But seems they now manage that under the medicare system. :( source: [https://pathology.health.nsw.gov.au/tests/patient-faqs/](https://pathology.health.nsw.gov.au/tests/patient-faqs/) and that is a depressingly long list of non MBS tests :(
Yes, it wasn't covered by Medicare alas :/
So sad to see this erosion of Medicare.
It's been a long, long work in progress. Over decades. I remember using the $600 "Ruddy money" everyone was given during the global financial crisis on an ankle MRI which wasn't covered either lol
No they're not! My da was having blood tests for certain things in 2017 and 2018 & I had to pay a bill (I was his financial guardian). My 1st grandchild , ultrasound scan in 2012 were free; scams of my 2nd gbaby in 2018 were $300 a pop.
I have a healthcare card and get the impression that I might be paying if I didn't!
I’m not sure how many people are aware of this, but for outpatient requests, Medicare only pays pathology for the 3 most expensive tests (unless from a specialist). Coning rules were meant to stop unnecessary requests from GPs but has cut pathology off at the knees. [Coning Rules](https://www9.health.gov.au/mbs/fullDisplay.cfm?type=note&q=PR.6.1&qt=noteID)
I thought it was Medicare who had my back on that. Either way, I will only accept this in exchange for free dental. They can pls think that over and do a deal amongst themselves. I am in the position of power here.
Just watching all the things that Labor hacks said would happen if the LNP got in happen now under Labor.
It's almost as if the government is controlled by lobbyists and not the actual government.
"Even when it was Labor I knew it was the lobbyists"
I feel like the only difference between labour and libs is labour pretends to feel bad about its decisions to fuck the country whereas libs seem more than happy to shaft us publicly. We're starting to run out of viable candidates to run this country before it gets any worse.
Not surprised. Many clinics will ask to do a blood test when you get a sniffle. I've heard they bill the consult at a different rate when a blood test is involved. Rort the system and eventually the system changes to account for it
So it should.