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As a fellow Australian, no. No there is not merit to it. It's a two tier system, rigged for wealthier people to have better health outcomes.
Have you been to the GP lately? Have you seen what crazy out of pocket costs there are at hospitals? It's gotten way worse in recent years.
Are you aware of the insanely different wait times between the public and private systems? It's not a feature to pay to skip the cue.
Are you aware that if it's not done in a hospital, then not even private health insurance can cover the gap if Medicare doesn't?
Private health is a fucking scourge. And it's a fucking joke to say that pay-walling healthcare makes overall wait times lower.
If we just had ACTUAL universal healthcare, wait-times would be equitable, and then maybe the upper end of town would actually want to fund healthcare properly, instead of these brain-dead tax cuts.
We are sitting on a pile of money (mining) that private companies are paying very little tax on.
We could be Norway. Would have been if we managed to get mining super tax through.
There is no merit to this bullshit private hybrid system. It's getting worse by the year.
Thanks for the comment! I'm Aussie but I've lived in the USA for around a decade, so I wasn't aware of how bad it had gotten. I had only ever used the public system in Australia and never had issues with it up until when I left. My parents didn't have a lot of money, and my job didn't pay too well, so I was heavily reliant on the public system.
It honestly sounds like health care in the USA is better (for me personally, not in general) compared to the state of health care in Australia at the moment. My employer pays most of the cost (which is common at large companies) and my plan covers both my wife and I. On my insurance, doctors visits are flat rate $15, and hospital stays are $100 max. A lot of medication are fully covered and cost me nothing out-of-pocket. I need to use a CPAP for sleep apnea, and the machine and supplies are both fully covered. There's a $4000 out of pocket maximum per year after which everything is covered 100%.
The problem in the USA is that there's no universal health care. There's a huge divide between people that are doing well vs people that aren't having a good time. The prices are crazy for people that don't have good health insurance - usually people that are lower income, self-employed, or unemployed.
Thanks for your response. I don't have personal experience, but from what I hear, even with our flawed system, I don't think it's too hard to say that I'd much rather have a horrifically expensive health crisis happen to me here, no matter how wealthy I am.
Just judging by the horror stories, because while out-of-pockets are getting stupid, the Medicare safety net, and private health maximums are actually much, much lower than what you've quoted. And the obvious fact that having health insurance tied to your employer is some really awful power dynamics.
But, this is just my rough jist/feeling.
I just get triggered by Australians telling others on the internet that our system is good haha. Our system could be a hell of a lot more universal, if you ask this Aussie 😅
Appreciate the chats.