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    Vol.60/No.34           September 30, 1996 
 
 
Hundreds Protest Attacks On Health Care In New Zealand  

BY JANET ROTH

KAITAIA, New Zealand - "Hang in there Harry!" This banner led a march of some 800 people along the main street of this small rural town on August 24, in a protest against attacks on free hospital care for the elderly.

Eighty-year-old Harry Findlay's wife, Ida Findlay, has Alzheimer's disease and has been hospitalized since 1994. Harry Findlay is refusing to pay a hospital bill of $NZ36,000 ($NZ1 = US$.68) for her care. He has already paid $NZ21,000. Elderly people are the only group required to pay long-stay hospital bills. If the patient receiving care has a partner still living at home, their assets, other than the house, worth more than $NZ40,000 are legally required to be used to pay $NZ600 weekly toward medical care.

"Harry is taking a stand for justice and fair play. We are here with him fighting government policy which is selective discrimination against old people.... We call for asset-testing to be abolished and to put everyone on equal terms." This is how Millie Srhoj, chairman of the Kaitaia Hospital Action Group, summed up the sentiments of the protesters who packed the local community center for a meeting after the march.  
 
 
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