{"id":106149,"date":"2026-06-07T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/?p=106149"},"modified":"2026-06-07T04:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T18:00:00","slug":"from-the-office-of-roland-rocchiccioli-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/living\/from-the-office-of-roland-rocchiccioli-18\/","title":{"rendered":"From the office of ROLAND ROCCHICCIOLI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>I am not rushing for a how-do-you-do to Saint Peter; however, I am not entirely sure the federal government shares my unabated passion for longevity. They would gladly see me sitting on a cloud playing a harp!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mercifully, I am hewn from long-living peasant stock with a certain reticence for shuffling-off the mortal coil. My mother, Beria, lived to 96, and Aunt Edith died at 104. The federal government\u2019s implacability to be rid of me not withstanding\u2014I hope to emulate their goodly spans.<\/p>\n<p>Discriminatorily, the government denies those citizens aged more than 74 the free \u201cpoo-on-the-paper\u201d bowel cancer test\u2014theoretically, we are a burden on the public purse. Paradoxically, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reports the highest incidence of bowel cancer presents in patients over the age of 80. The exclusion is based on the ridiculous average patient assessment\u2014the one-size-fits-all credo. Tough luck if you do not present as the \u201caverage patient\u201d\u2014however that definition reads in the government\u2019s bizarre, fiscal justification.<\/p>\n<p>Baby boomers are being bureaucratically ushered to the exit. Bugger that, I say! I have been dealt a winning hand and I\u2019m staying! We number 5.4-million\u201425 percent of the total population. While we are no longer the most influential generation we are the wealthiest alongside the Millennials. Speciously, we are blamed for every societal malaise. There is something intellectually dishonest in a narrative apportioning generational blame all the while gorging from a table not of their creation.<\/p>\n<p>The cohort most accused of consuming more than its share is the one which created the plethora of consumables. The prosperity\u2014and to which subsequent generations feel so entitled\u2014was not a naturally occurring phenomenon. Literally, the baby boomers rebuilt the world\u2014the infrastructure; institutions; the taken-for-granted cultural frameworks; the scientific and medical inventions; even the technological foundations which the digital generation built upon but did not create.<\/p>\n<p>My mother died of primary colorectal cancer. While I have exhibited no signs of contracting the condition I am classified as predispositioned \u2014and while that may not be of concern to the government it does cause me some medical consternation.<\/p>\n<p>Always, I have paid private health insurance. Now\u2014because of age\u2014I am being penalised for living so long and electing not to be dependent on the public health system.<\/p>\n<p>In an act of ageist animus, the federal government has lowered the private health insurance rebate for all Australians aged 65 plus to 24 percent\u2014a reduction of 8 percent\u2014aligning it with the base rate applied to those under 65. Irrationally, the Health Minister Mark Butler argued the more generous subsidy\u2014solely based on age\u2014is unfair between the generations; funds need to be distributed more equitably. Extrapolating, should we apply the same dubious meanness to the politicians\u2019 generous superannuation scheme which is heavily taxpayer subsidised.<\/p>\n<p>It is ageist and deeply offensive to imply all those aged 74 plus have reached a definitive marker in their operative life and are not deemed worthy of a free bowel cancer test.<\/p>\n<p>It is appropriate for the silent majority to tell the government how we feel. We are being bullied. It must stop! If we are deemed to be of so little value\u2014making so little contribution\u2014perhaps the time is ripe for baby boomers to flex their muscle and make their voices heard at the ballot box.<\/p>\n<p>Roland talks with Brett Macdonald 3BA\u2014Monday 10.40am. Contact: <a href=\"mailto:roland@rolandroc.com\">roland@rolandroc.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am not rushing for a how-do-you-do to Saint Peter; however, I am not entirely sure the federal government shares my unabated passion for longevity. They would gladly see me sitting on a cloud playing a harp! Mercifully, I am hewn from long-living peasant stock with a certain reticence for shuffling-off the mortal coil. My [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/living\/from-the-office-of-roland-rocchiccioli-18\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":106150,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-106149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-living"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>From the office of ROLAND ROCCHICCIOLI - Golden Plains Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Roland Rocchiccioli exposes the federal government&#039;s ageist healthcare policies and calls for baby boomers to fight back.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/living\/from-the-office-of-roland-rocchiccioli-18\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From the office of ROLAND ROCCHICCIOLI - 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