Medicare (universal health care)

[The Sultan]

I have been fortunate enough to be in good health for most of my life, and never really needed to use health services other than the occasional doctor appointment.

On the weekend I smashed my arm up pretty good, double dislocation and four breaks.

Eventhough the health system cops it a bit I must say at least we’re not in America, yes I had to wait for several hours in emergency in a fair amount of pain, but I was seen eventually. Ended up being two nights in hospital two surgeries, one over four hours, heaps of drugs, and all it cost me was some parking for my partner and a few coffees at the kiosk.

Have read some stories from the US were even if you did have insurance you could still be out of pocket tens of thousands of dollars ..

Also most nurses are angels in human form they do a hell of a job and should be paid whatever they want .

Apols if this is a bit all over the shop still a bit zooted up atm ..

 

[revo333]

Correct, Americans come here and can't believe how bad they have it in regards to health care.

 

[raskolnikov]

Americans have it worse in lots of ways. Most only get a couple of weeks leave a year. They also don't have long service leave. I was talking with an American couple a few years ago who didn't believe something like lsl existed.

 

[Mofra]

29 out of 30 top OECD nations have universal healthcare. The US doesn't - but they spend way more per Capita. Hospital supply gouging is rife there, it's a mess.

We're also fortunate that ambulance cover (of you don't have private health insurance or extras) is very cheap here.

 

[Caesar]

Americans have it worse in lots of ways. Most only get a couple of weeks leave a year. They also don't have long service leave. I was talking with an American couple a few years ago who didn't believe something like lsl existed.

salaries in certain fields do a lot to make up for it

I used to work with a software engineer who went from making AUD$170K in Sydney to USD$350K in Silicon Valley - no promotion, just a lateral transfer

 

[burge13]

Medicare, as great as it is, has its faults as well. You're still paying for alot of unnecessary s**t via other means

Insurance is very high because to get any appointment you need a referral, that referral will be $100+ paid by Medicare. Only we pay the levy

GPs jack prices up to see them because its not a direct out of pocket. Everything requires a referral needlessly just to get some money in the pockets. Clinicians charge shitloads knowing its not coming directly out of your pocket, same as a tradie doing an insurance job. There's still rorts and its still very expensive between insurance premiums, medicare levy etc.

Everything requiring a referral needs to stop. Would unclog alot of wait times, less charged to Medicare and go a long way to lessening the costs of things. Its not the only rort but its a start

Our clinical coding is a shambles too. Very inaccurate at hospitals and this coding gets the funding from medicare/commonwealth. Often miscoded and underfunded meaning we pay via taxes.

Our system is crap in other ways but compared to the yanks we're gold star, A+. Sad thing is, yanks believe they're the greatest on earth. Let them have their delusion i guess. We dont want them coming here

 

[Gough]

Christmas eve 2006 my appendix ruptured and I spent 9 days in the RAH, hotel was s**t but the concierge were amazing.

 

[kickazz]

I do wonder we should start spending Medicare money on up-front positive health initiatives.

Not sure how it would work (without being rorted) but subsidies for healthy foods or exercise would be good.

The majority of illness in this country is diet related.

 

[kickazz]

Have read some stories from the US were even if you did have insurance you could still be out of pocket tens of thousands of dollars ..

Indeed, you have to go and sue if you want to really be taken care of. Things like TAC are good for that - you get hurt in a car accident, there is a process to get compo. Over in the USA, if you get hit by someone who ca nafford better lawyers than you, then forget it.

salaries in certain fields do a lot to make up for it

I used to work with a software engineer who went from making AUD$170K in Sydney to USD$350K in Silicon Valley - no promotion, just a lateral transfer

Well yeah - but many workers earn an absolute pittance and things like Medicare are really intended for them.


About 5% of all health spend in the USA goes toward litigation. (I do have a source somewhere if people want it). I also think that, generally speaking, the culture over there is that doctors are more likely to be tossers who are in it for the prestige and money. All that wearing of white coats bullshit is all about status.

The number one cause of bankruptcy in America is health issues.


Even in Australia, if you are on a good wage then I highly recommend income protection insurance. A lawyer mate of mine told me he knows of too many cases of people being sent to the wall after having a comfortable life but then getting cancer.

 

[Taylor]

I do wonder we should start spending Medicare money on up-front positive health initiatives.

Not sure how it would work (without being rorted) but subsidies for healthy foods or exercise would be good.

The majority of illness in this country is diet related.

As long as it doesn't turn into a punishment for people who aren't living super healthy lives it could be motivation for some in that middle bracket who are just needing a little shove. Netball and footy use up quite a bit of medicare resources as it is without the fees for the players coming in with busted ankles and shoulders being included. But I want this to happen, prevention is always better than treatment and always better than cure.

Even in Australia, if you are on a good wage then I highly recommend income protection insurance. A lawyer mate of mine told me he knows of too many cases of people being sent to the wall after having a comfortable life but then getting cancer.

Our welfare isn't really designed to prevent someone from slipping from their place on the cliff they've spent their life climbing, it's more to try and stop that last metre of fall and they'll wait for you to slide down to that point before deploying the net.

Income protection and total permanent disability are usually available through your super fund - they can get quite expensive if you have higher needs, higher medical history/risk or both. I would recommend, although it shouldn't be taken as personal financial advice, that you make sure your insurance covers the cost of paying off your mortgage and buying your home again. Should you need nursing home treatment the deposit to that care home will be around the value of another house and you don't want your family being displaced to put you into care.

 

[Caesar]

Even in Australia, if you are on a good wage then I highly recommend income protection insurance. A lawyer mate of mine told me he knows of too many cases of people being sent to the wall after having a comfortable life but then getting cancer.

I have always found the relationship between income and wealth in Australia to be interesting

The top 20% of Australian income earners earn approximately 6x the bottom 20%, but the wealthiest 20% own about 90x the assets of the poorest 20%

a lot of this can be attributed to the fact that in the last 20 years the wealth of the top 20% has grown 10x faster than the wealth of the bottom 20x - which in turn can be attributed to types of wealth owned (the richest 20% own 55% of owner-occupied housing, 60% of super, and 80% of all other financial assets)

personally I blame a lot of this on our country's overreliance on income tax. 40% of Australian government revenues come from personal income taxes (the OECD average is 24%). Conversely, only 12% comes from taxing consumption (OECD avg is 20%).

people always argue that the GST is regressive, but the real killer for social mobility is personal income tax. The only viable path for most Australians to build wealth is to get a better job and save more of their salary. When you tax the hell out of personal income, the people you hurt the most are those whose only substantial asset is their labour.

taxing income less and consumption more is certainly not a complete answer to inequality - e.g. a substantial rise in GST requires careful measures to protect low income earners - but it would be a very good start in terms of giving most Australians a better opportunity and greater incentive to build wealth

until that happens, we'll continue to be a country full of people like you describe - bereft of assets and one medical misfortune away from poverty