In response to Tony Delaney's questioning of the transient and inefficient nature of wind farm businesses (The Standard, December 31), wind farms only exist because Tony, me and millions of other Australian taxpayers provide exorbitant subsidies to keep them afloat.

Wind energy is not free. Wind farms rely on government subsidies to create profits to attract foreign investors.

Wind farms cannot survive without these taxpayer-funded government subsidies. We pay through the nose to create the profit for wind farms to happen.

Viva-Lyn Lenehan, Killarney

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In 2022, extreme weather events were widespread across the globe. In fact, in my 72 years, I am unable to remember a worse year.

The European Commission's Global Drought Observatory declared the 2022 drought the worst in 500 years. China experienced its worst-ever heatwave - lasting more than 70 days. And in the US, an ongoing "megadrought" in the west and south-west is the most extreme in the past 1200 years, according to a new study. In this country, the February-March floods in south-east Queensland last year have been described as "Australia's worst floods in modern history".

These extreme weather events are "climate-fuelled" driven by a warmer atmosphere and oceans, thanks to the burning of fossil fuels producing greenhouse gases. So, it was worrying to see that the top-performing stock on the ASX at the end of 2022 was Whitehaven Coal.

A New Year's resolution for those with shares would be to divest from fossil fuels. The Australia Institutes Divest Invest resources can help with this. The rest of us can switch our super and mortgages. The Market Forces websites comparing super funds and banks are good places to start.

Ray Peck, Hawthorn

There's a lot of talk about boomers hoarding their riches, but a 2022 survey by National Seniors Australia and Challenger showed that's not the whole story.

It is true that, among the 2888 retirees we surveyed, 72 per cent of those with super or other savings said they wanted to maintain all or part of their capital rather than spending it to fund their retirement.

But let's look at the reasons. The top one given was to pay for unforeseen medical or health costs. This was expressed by almost 84 per cent - more than double the number saving to leave money to their beneficiaries (41 per cent). With this decision, retirees are letting their savings do the talking on Australia's public health system.

Older Australians are supported by government-funded healthcare just like younger Australians. However, even with the assistance of Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, out-of-pocket healthcare expenses are burdensome, especially for people with multiple health conditions.

The Commonwealth Fund's 2021 International Health Policy Survey of Older Adults found Australia was in the top three high income countries for the proportion of people aged 65-plus who reported out-of-pocket medical costs of more than $US2000 in the previous year.

The only countries placing higher financial burdens on older people to pay for their own healthcare were Switzerland and the US.

That's only part of it. Like the rest of the population, older people are also experiencing a public health system under severe strain which reached extreme levels during the pandemic.

The proportion of people waiting more than one year for elective surgery in the public system increased to 7.6 per cent in 2020-21 from 2.8 per cent in the previous year.

Many conditions requiring elective surgery are not classified as clinically urgent, but they cause discomfort and limit mobility, both of which can seriously impact quality of life.

Wait times are usually shorter for elective surgery in the private system.

Having funds available to pay for surgery privately may account for the high proportion of our survey participants who maintain capital for medical or health reasons.

The good news is that the superannuation system enables many retirees to accumulate funds for both retirement income and unforeseen costs such as medical bills. Among those we surveyed, super was the top source of retirement income for 70 per cent, and 10 per cent relied on super alone. However, super is not a welfare policy and women, particularly, who haven't had continuous work or who experienced the gender pay gap, are worse off.

Many others with low incomes or with interrupted working lives are also struggling. These risks may compound in the future with people living longer and spending more years in poor health.

When retirees are paying for health services that the welfare state is supposed to support, Medicare is not living up to its promise of providing adequate and equitable health insurance for all Australians.

Professor John McCallum, CEO National Seniors Australia

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