If you are a New South Welsh-person, I suspect the changes are likely to be good. It appears the NSW health system is the most dysfunctional in Australia, while Victoria seems to have the best system. The “Mexicans” may have more reason to be nervous than the rest of us.

I am no expert on health, but I sincerely hope the health minister Nicola Roxon has had a good look at what works well in Victoria, and is intent on keeping the baby and only discarding the bathwater.

The health reform plan, in a nutshell, involves the Commonwealth financing 60 per cent of the price of public hospital services, and all public health services outside hospitals. (There is therefore a greater incentive than before to fund preventative programs that will keep people out of hospital.)

To pay for the scheme, the states would agree to surrender 30 per cent of their GST revenue - worth some $90 billion over the first five years - with all health funds to go into a single, national, health fund. (This would hopefully eliminate the cost-shifting and buck-passing that is a characteristic of the current system, especially in NSW.)

I particularly like the idea of local people having some control over how the money allocated to local hospitals would be spent. There is no way a bureaucrat sitting in either Sydney or Canberra would have a better idea of what is happening on the ground in Yass than someone who lives in the area.

Hospitals will be paid on a per case basis, and the hope is that this will lead to greater efficiencies. It may also put smaller hospitals at a disadvantage, as they don’t have the economies of scale of larger centres. I heard Julia Gillard say that the problems of rural and regional hospitals have been taken into account, and I certainly hope she is right.

There are still plenty of things I have yet to get my head around, and you can be pretty sure there will be plenty of debate leading up to April 11. If they have not signed up by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting on that date, the Prime Minister has said he will hold a referendum on the issue.

A cynic may say it would be easier to fight an election on a health reform platform rather than on the ETS, or Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme as the Prime Minister, in his long-winded way, has dubbed it. However, this was an election promise, so perhaps the cynics should hold their tongue for a while yet.

The vision of a health system that works smoothly, reduces waiting times and means people don’t have to wait seven years for dentures (as I heard one woman complain) is one we can all relate to. Anyone who has sat in the emergency department of a large hospital on a Saturday night will know the system is stretched. It amazes me how the doctors and nurses keep going - surely the current system exploits their dedication!

The health system is complex, and reforming it will not be easy. I am certainly willing to entertain the possibility this reform may well have benefits for the long-suffering folk who are forced to use the NSW health system – and that covers most of us around here! A local bonus may be that a national system should work to eliminate cross-border issues that seem to crop up from time to time.

Time will tell.