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Old Thu Feb 13, 2014, 06:55 PM
Chirley Chirley is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Logan City Australia
Posts: 1,100
I used to think Australia's Medicare/Health system was one of the best in the world....I've had my eyes opened....it's not very good at all.

The majority of the population believe the Governments propaganda about how great we have it. Yes, it's good compared to Cambodia, Ethiopia etc but for a first world country....not so good.

There are numerous stories all the time of people having to go overseas for treatment and the fundraising efforts to help them. Sometimes it's because the treatment isn't available here but a lot of the time it's because it's going to take so long to get treatment that they'll be permanently affected or dead. Sometimes they've just been refused treatment because of circumstances.

What about that poor 40 yo man with a perfectly treatable brain/Neuro condition on the Sunshine Coast....he can live a perfectly normal long life with a certain medication but it's not on the PBS and it's $50,000 a year. So his family (wife and two young children) have sold their house, furniture etc to fund the drug, it will only give him a couple of years grace....the Government has refused to help. You hear these stories all the time. Then there is my Mum, the public hospital refused to treat her and were going to let her die...they said she had no hope of living a quality life...that was a year and a half ago. If she didn't have PHI she would have died a horrible death, drowning in her own secretions. Back when I had Vidaza it wasn't even being offered in the public hospital system (yes, I had to pay $50,000 out of pocket). How many people died in the public hospital system because they weren't given treatment? All because the PBS waited three years to put Vidaza on its list AFTER it was approved by the TGA and the PBAC. The reason they did this? Because the drug company was paying for compassionate use after six months and the Government was happy to defer the costs to the company instead of taking them on themselves. The company was being blackmailed into paying compassionate use so as to get approval from the PBS....vicious cycle. Finally Celgene had enough and threatened to stop the compassionate use program and that's when it went on the PBS.

So many things the public is left in the dark about....conspiracy theorist...yes, I am. I've been in Witness Protection (it's called something else now), I've been a Registered Whistle Blower, I've seen the dark side of Government Departments, I've seen the cover ups, the corruption, the dishonesty, the threats, the criminality.....

I know I sound paranoid...believe me....I've only seen the tip of the iceberg.
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