Oogle,
Sand blaster raises an interesting point in terms of system cost and who actually pays. Unfortunately his cost model is a bit out but the basic components are there vis the cost of providing the service. Base costs are the same for the any helo operator vis crew, cost of capital, cost of insurance, facilities maintenance and fuel. Take any of those out and neither operator is going flying for long.
If you take a philosophical view and work on the cost to society there is not much difference between the NGO and fully funded. NGO still needs to suck the money in and their cost of doing that ( aka fundraising ) balances against the cost involved in contracting a commercial operator and spreading the cost through taxes. Not much different cost to society really and I suspect the NGO model may be more expensive due to economy of scale.
Any new contract hopefully will put the emphasis on where it should be.Service delivery to the patient.
A cost model point for consideration:
What's the cost comparison between 25 hospitals in kickatinalong requiring a fully staffed emergency department at 1.5-2 million per year if you can get the staff, versus an adequately resourced quick reaction helicopter capability delivering within the " golden hour "
I suspect the helo model wins hands down.
Then there's the politics and dogma .........
The Eye.