In my latest column for Business News, I discuss Treasurer Jim Chalmers‘ advocacy for ‘values-based capitalism’ in the context of aged care and disability which use market-mechanisms to deliver these crucial services.
Chalmers argues that there is nothing wrong with using the market to achieve government objectives provided that such markets are properly designed. I think he is right.
However, if we are to see values-based capitalism working at its best in aged care and disability, then Mr Chalmers should not underestimate the big job ahead in this respect. Examples of poor market design abound in both sectors…take the unsustainable funding models and rigid rules around pricing for starters…
With 70 per cent of residential aged care providers and more than 50 per cent of NDIS providers currently operating at a loss, we need to see more explicit acknowledgement at all levels of government that these crucial social services are being delivered in heavily constrained markets that are, by and large, starting to fail.
You can find out more on this in link below. Just head to page 55. (Please note that this is behind a paywall and requires a Business News subscription to read in full).