Medicare is a sad shell of its former self, good luck seeing a GP or a specialist for free these days. Want a specialist to check out your breasts? That’ll be $400 for the first visit and $210 out of pocket for all your follow ups, $800 (out of pocket) just for a biopsy if you need it. (Rough numbers from a friend). And consider that most women develop some kind of breast growths in their life time.
Sure it’s not US levels of price gouging, but heck. Medicare is being lost and we’re not fighting for it.
I won’t be satisfied until private health is dead. Fuck private health.
i wouldn’t say until private health is dead: there’s always a certain level of comfort or pseudo-science choice that i don’t think should be socialised… for example, my private health covers “alternative therapies” which should certainly not be covered by social healthcare, but people should be given the option to spend their money on that if they want to
same thing with private rooms, better hospital meals, etc: these things should be optional extras that you can pay more for
with that said, dental, optical, psychology, physio, and nutrition are all things that my private health covers that medicare should cover or should cover more
public is for keeping as many people as healthy as possible as efficiently as possible: it’s about optimisation
private is for things that you want but don’t need that would make the care of others less efficient without additional money, and where you can pay for that extra why not allow people to insure for it?
In Australia, private health insurance is better for non life threatening stuff.
Emergencies is where the public health system shines. They have a lot more practice with trauma and ED stuff than private.
I have private too.
This is very similar situarion in Brazil
i always say to americans: medicare keeps you alive and able to be productive, private insurance keeps you comfortable
… but medicare also drastically reduces private premiums
Ah yeah, that is a good way of putting it.
I very much appreciate your last sentence.
Medicare is a sad shell of its former self, good luck seeing a GP or a specialist for free these days. Want a specialist to check out your breasts? That’ll be $400 for the first visit and $210 out of pocket for all your follow ups, $800 (out of pocket) just for a biopsy if you need it. (Rough numbers from a friend). And consider that most women develop some kind of breast growths in their life time.
Sure it’s not US levels of price gouging, but heck. Medicare is being lost and we’re not fighting for it.
I won’t be satisfied until private health is dead. Fuck private health.
i wouldn’t say until private health is dead: there’s always a certain level of comfort or pseudo-science choice that i don’t think should be socialised… for example, my private health covers “alternative therapies” which should certainly not be covered by social healthcare, but people should be given the option to spend their money on that if they want to
same thing with private rooms, better hospital meals, etc: these things should be optional extras that you can pay more for
with that said, dental, optical, psychology, physio, and nutrition are all things that my private health covers that medicare should cover or should cover more
Oh yeah, that’s true (the alternative therapies), and for extras that aren’t at all better medical care
yup:
public is for keeping as many people as healthy as possible as efficiently as possible: it’s about optimisation
private is for things that you want but don’t need that would make the care of others less efficient without additional money, and where you can pay for that extra why not allow people to insure for it?