|
Edited on Sat Jul-14-07 06:16 PM by wakeme2008
Please nom so others can see this for a couple days
A female cruising friend of mine just was on a 8 month car and trailer trip around Oz when on the other side of Oz she had a heart attack that required open heart surgery. I asked her about the costs and she sent me a very long reply. I will cut and paste from it. She is waiting until the doctor clears her on the 20th so that she can fly home. Note they have an SUV and a 27' trailer on the west side of Oz and they live on the east side.
We hope to be flying out of here next `Saturday.......flight just has to be confirmed by the insurance company on Monday. We were lucky to have an insurance that covered us for illness and accident in our car and caravan. We take the vehicles to a trucking company next Friday and they will be sent home as soon as they can fit them on a truck....could be a few weeks....but we have my car at home so doesn't matter.
..cut..
We have access to two medical systems here. The first one is one that every Australian is entitled to FREE medial treatment. It doesn't matter if you live under a bridge or are a billionaire.....everyone can have it free. Then there is also Private health insurance....those who can afford it are encouraged to cover themselves but it is not compulsory.
..cut..
When I first had the heart attack, I went to a remote country hospital for 2 days....then the Royal Flying Doctor to Perth and 2 ambulance rides...then about 3 days in the Royal Perth Hospital (where I had all the tests, angiograms, echos x rays etc etc etc done)and I was never asked if I had any medical insurance......the whole thing cost nothing up to that point. Then the surgeon asked me if I had private insurance, if I did he could transfer me to a private hospital and would be able to do the operation quicker..
..cut..
I went to a more up market, comfortable hospital (even with good food). In a private hospital though, you are not completely covered for everything, where in a public hospital you are. I have to pay extra for drugs, x rays, physiotherapy and some tests........my private insurance will give me some of that money back but not all.......I would guess that we will be out of pocket about $800 all up. If I had stayed in the public system I wouldn't be out of pocket at all. Most of our drugs are also subsidised by the Government....usually only pay about $20 per prescription......but when a family reaches a cost of $1000 for prescribed drugs in a year, the cost then drops to $2.50 per script for the rest of the year.....between John and I, we will probably reach the $1000 limit around the middle of the year, so will get about 6 months worth almost free each year.
..cut then she sums it up...
The system could be better but its the people who ruin things.....it is certainly a lot better than you have. In any type of emergency, you will be taken straight to the nearest public hospital, which always have the best facilities anyway....and you wont be asked for a cent......the worst part of the public system is when you get to our age and might need some joint replacements etc......that is not considered urgent or life threatening....so you will be on a waiting list....could be for a couple of years....if you have private insurance you can get a new hip next week.......all in all I think we have a pretty good system...... Hope that explains it all
|