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Old 05-06-2017, 07:58 AM   #31
ProactiveMan
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Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Western Australia
Posts: 2,266
It's not really any of my business, but I'm not sure why you would want to use insurance as the model for providing universal healthcare. It will never work unless there is a way to control the cost of health care.

The existence of government operated hospitals here means that there is always a baseline price dictated by the government. Private hospitals can charge more than this, but as everyone has public health cover, the private insurance companies have to remain competitive to attract customers. They cannot therefore, afford to pay private hospitals and practitioners overly inflated rates.

Our system has problems, but it works overall. Essentially the federal government provides health cover for everyone, which it funds through a levy that is charged to most tax payers. This means that you are entitled to be treated in a public hospital, and you receive a rebate for doctor visits and things like that. The government can afford this by placing restrictions on the price of medical services it provides as well as pharmaceuticals.

There are some tax benefits to maintaining private health insurance, but you still pay the Medicare levy regardless. To be fair, you are still entitled to use the services too. Private cover gives you a choice of practitioner, hospital, and shorter waiting time for elective procedures and non-critical care. It also covers things like dentistry and physiotherapy that Medicare does not.

Our population is a fraction of yours, and our government is not set up in the same way either, so I can't say if our system would work for you or not.
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