[Chirley]

Hi, I wouldn't worry too much about the insurance thing at the moment. They might do what we do here in Australia. All public hospital treatment is free with free inpatient medication. There is a co payment for discharge medication but it is only nominal.

I have private insurance as well as the public insurance (compulsory for all tax payers and taken out of our pay before we receive it, it's only 1.5%) With the private insurance I get admission to a private hospital with no extra payments, all my doctors fees paid for and all in hospital medications. There is a co payment for discharge and outpatient medications but the government pays for most of it and the insurance kicks in with another portion. There is usually a charge for things like xrays and scans but again the government and the insurance pay for the vast majority of it.

If there is a large out of pocket expense for the year, the government has a safety net. If you have to pay more than $1,500 (I think) of your own money out in a year on medical expenses, the government will pay the rest of the cost for the rest of the year.

We don't appear to have the problems with insurance companies like you do. I have never heard of an insurance company refusing to pay for certain tests or medications. If the doctor thinks they're necessary, then, they are covered.

Yes, we are a high tax country but we do get value for that money, in my opinion. It means that street kids/adults get the best medical treatment available at no cost and if the director of a large company chooses to also use that same public hospital, then, it's free for them too. You can't get fairer than that. On the other hand, if you earn more money and can afford to have private insurance, it's something you should do to support society.

Of course the private hospitals are a bit more upmarket and offer things like wine with dinner and a better menu and food. If you need non urgent surgery, you can get it quicker in a private hospital but emergency treatment is probably a lot better in a public hospital due to the massive government funding and provision of state of the art technology and equipment.

Most people who require emergency admission, go to the public hospital ED, are assessed, investigated, diagnosed and then, if they have private insurance are transferred to a private hospital by private car or ambulance, if that's what they choose to do. A lot of people with private insurance, choose to be treated in the public hospital as a private patient, which means they have the right to choose their own doctor but everything else is the same as the public patients.

Our system has it's faults and most people complain about it all the time, but, I don't think they know how well off we are. State of the art medical treatment and free or almost free, and available to everyone.

Pardon the length of my ramble, but, someone needs to defend the way our health care system works and I don't think it can be done much fairer than they way we are doing it now.

I'm hoping your new president can make your health system more accessible for the people who need it most. It sounds very expensive.

Chirley

I forgot to mention, if you see a doctor in his office, the government pays for all or some of the doctors visit, depending on how much the doctor charges and if you are on a government pension. A lot of doctors don't charge anything to the patient, they send the account to the goverment and accept what the government gives back to them. This happens for almost all pensioners and for a lot of other ordinary working people.