Our medical system is in my opinion, terribly broken. We need a better system such as Canada has or the UK? I don’t know but it’s soooo expensive.
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We have the public system. No money – now fee. (Mostly) In most cases, General Practitioners, public hospital specialists, xray etc will bill the government health system. (Medicare) However, you do have a long waiting list for surgeries, free dental work and have to use the specialist the hospital tells you to use.
The private medical system is out of reach for low income earners too. We decided to stay with our private health fund after retirement for as long as we can.
My double back surgery, in 2017, with 2 top orthopedic surgeons and 1 top vascular surgeon plus 2 weeks private rehab, invoiced at 78,000AU$, only left us out of pocket of under 6,000AU$ AND I got to walk and live again. Those 2 surgeries, with 3 specialist surgeons in the one operating theatre, is not carried out on a public patient. A lesser option would leave a person in a similar situation maybe pain free if nothing else and one recommended surgeon. My dad was sent to a public hospital when he fell a few years ago and needed a wrist surgery. The top specialist was on-call that weekend but even then, he was well looked after with not one $ to pay.
I do like some of Canada’s health advantages, especially when it comes to people with serious food allergies.
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Wow, thanks so much for your in-depth (to me) explanation of your medical system. I believe that no medical system can be perfect, but for most of what you wrote I find your system better. I pay for my insurance monthly, and, if I leave the state the insurance is invalid. Yeah. it’s that bad…
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No insurance companies are perfect. Yes, we pay it monthly too because we don’t save anything by paying it annually. We can go anywhere in Australia and use our health insurance. We use the Defence Health system, which myself and the children had while hubby was in full time service. Now we pay for just the 2 of us. Mind you, hubby also receives some Veterans assistance for old “defence force” injuries, hearing damage etc. I think we’ll be OK with the cover we have for now.
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This sounds acceptable to me.
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I have had some that were amazing. Others were just clueless. I don’t know how they got through medical school.
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That sounds scary! Maybe they were highly skilled but lacked skills in dealing with patients?
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I am pretty sure one of my regular specialists got his degree in a box of Cheerios.
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Wow, that’s terrible! Don’t go back there. 💀
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That’s why I work out and take care of myself, so I only have to see him a couple of times a year. There isn’t a lot of options here.
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I see, two times a year is better than three or more. 👍🏻
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There are many very good, conscientious doctors out there, and I have been privileged to know some of them. Like any profession, whether it be plumber, electrician, mechanic, etc, there are some not so good ones among them, and I try to avoid those ones.
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I totally agree, there are some great ones out there, my GP is a very good doctor, he went out of his way to get a great deal (free) on some medication for my Triglicerides. That’s spelled wrong but you know what I mean! Other doctors come away as making me feel like they really don’t care like a cardiologist I saw a couple of years ago. I never went back there. I’m grateful for their expertise.
LOL!
Our medical system is in my opinion, terribly broken. We need a better system such as Canada has or the UK? I don’t know but it’s soooo expensive.
We have the public system. No money – now fee. (Mostly) In most cases, General Practitioners, public hospital specialists, xray etc will bill the government health system. (Medicare) However, you do have a long waiting list for surgeries, free dental work and have to use the specialist the hospital tells you to use.
The private medical system is out of reach for low income earners too. We decided to stay with our private health fund after retirement for as long as we can.
My double back surgery, in 2017, with 2 top orthopedic surgeons and 1 top vascular surgeon plus 2 weeks private rehab, invoiced at 78,000AU$, only left us out of pocket of under 6,000AU$ AND I got to walk and live again. Those 2 surgeries, with 3 specialist surgeons in the one operating theatre, is not carried out on a public patient. A lesser option would leave a person in a similar situation maybe pain free if nothing else and one recommended surgeon. My dad was sent to a public hospital when he fell a few years ago and needed a wrist surgery. The top specialist was on-call that weekend but even then, he was well looked after with not one $ to pay.
I do like some of Canada’s health advantages, especially when it comes to people with serious food allergies.
Wow, thanks so much for your in-depth (to me) explanation of your medical system. I believe that no medical system can be perfect, but for most of what you wrote I find your system better. I pay for my insurance monthly, and, if I leave the state the insurance is invalid. Yeah. it’s that bad…
No insurance companies are perfect. Yes, we pay it monthly too because we don’t save anything by paying it annually. We can go anywhere in Australia and use our health insurance. We use the Defence Health system, which myself and the children had while hubby was in full time service. Now we pay for just the 2 of us. Mind you, hubby also receives some Veterans assistance for old “defence force” injuries, hearing damage etc. I think we’ll be OK with the cover we have for now.
This sounds acceptable to me.
I have had some that were amazing. Others were just clueless. I don’t know how they got through medical school.
That sounds scary! Maybe they were highly skilled but lacked skills in dealing with patients?
I am pretty sure one of my regular specialists got his degree in a box of Cheerios.
Wow, that’s terrible! Don’t go back there. 💀
That’s why I work out and take care of myself, so I only have to see him a couple of times a year. There isn’t a lot of options here.
I see, two times a year is better than three or more. 👍🏻
There are many very good, conscientious doctors out there, and I have been privileged to know some of them. Like any profession, whether it be plumber, electrician, mechanic, etc, there are some not so good ones among them, and I try to avoid those ones.
I totally agree, there are some great ones out there, my GP is a very good doctor, he went out of his way to get a great deal (free) on some medication for my Triglicerides. That’s spelled wrong but you know what I mean! Other doctors come away as making me feel like they really don’t care like a cardiologist I saw a couple of years ago. I never went back there. I’m grateful for their expertise.