Our rotten healthcare system.
- Thread starter born-again-biker
- Start date
wavike
Likes Dirt
Most in these categories are likely on the dole or survive through theft etc, so only option is to transfer them Van Diemen's Land - sorry that's been tried before and didn't work - ended up where we are today - at least we're a lot better off than the home country atm.
safreek
*******
Public system seems to work fine for me, saved my life once at basically no cost and due to being a fuckwit just finished a course of meds that would of cost me 60 to 80 thousand bucks in the good old USA.
I am very impressed by the system.
It took 1 year for my brother to get some cataracts removed, not life threatening so I guess it's a fairly good waiting period .
The more important thing is to save lives, then to get people mobile again. Unfortunately if you have non life threatening probs you need to take a back seat. I don't believe that private health care would if made a lick of difference to me
I am very impressed by the system.
It took 1 year for my brother to get some cataracts removed, not life threatening so I guess it's a fairly good waiting period .
The more important thing is to save lives, then to get people mobile again. Unfortunately if you have non life threatening probs you need to take a back seat. I don't believe that private health care would if made a lick of difference to me
ctguru
Likes Bikes and Dirt
A big issue is with the private insurance policies
There are a lot of policies which are solely designed as a way to get out of paying the medicare surcharge which actually don't offer anything!!!!!
You pay your monthly premium with no benefit, its shit!
Everyone who has private insurance NEEDS to check their policy
Some offer only a private bed in a public hospital, but you still go on the PUBLIC waiting list!!!!
There are a lot of policies which are solely designed as a way to get out of paying the medicare surcharge which actually don't offer anything!!!!!
You pay your monthly premium with no benefit, its shit!
Everyone who has private insurance NEEDS to check their policy
Some offer only a private bed in a public hospital, but you still go on the PUBLIC waiting list!!!!
droenn
Fat Man's XC President
Australia has pretty good healthcare, and I'm glad we have it. Having said that, I'm much happier to pay the extra medicare surcharge at tax time then put that into private health insurance.
Howard's blackmail scheme can just simply go get fucked. I'll put my money elsewhere thanks.
Howard's blackmail scheme can just simply go get fucked. I'll put my money elsewhere thanks.
born-again-biker
Is looking for a 16" bar
My other local experience is worth mentioning....
About 3 years ago an immediate family member had a colonoscopy that turned up some concerning 'growths'.
It required surgery and now he/she is OK, but will be checked fairly regularly.
Given that both my grandfathers had bowel cancer, I thought I better get myself checked out.
My GP referred me into the public system for a colonoscopy.
3+ years later I am still waiting. Each year I receive a letter informing me that I am on the waiting list and "do you still require the procedure?".blah blah.
When I called to enquire about the delays they told me that I am low priority because the local resources are used around-the-clock for patients who already have bowel cancer.
So I've kind-of given up (which I admit is the wrong attitude for my long term health) but work, life, kids etc make it easy to put it in the too-hard basket.
I also don't want to make a fuss (OK, no-one here would currently believe that - I get it...)
....because I know the sick patients are more important than me.
It feels like the severe under-resourcing of the system creates a patient-vs-patient scenario that no-one wants to play.
There's certainly no reward for being pro-active.
For us, in this city, it's just not as simple as "...just use the public system and quit whining..." The PS isn't up to scratch.
About 3 years ago an immediate family member had a colonoscopy that turned up some concerning 'growths'.
It required surgery and now he/she is OK, but will be checked fairly regularly.
Given that both my grandfathers had bowel cancer, I thought I better get myself checked out.
My GP referred me into the public system for a colonoscopy.
3+ years later I am still waiting. Each year I receive a letter informing me that I am on the waiting list and "do you still require the procedure?".blah blah.
When I called to enquire about the delays they told me that I am low priority because the local resources are used around-the-clock for patients who already have bowel cancer.
So I've kind-of given up (which I admit is the wrong attitude for my long term health) but work, life, kids etc make it easy to put it in the too-hard basket.
I also don't want to make a fuss (OK, no-one here would currently believe that - I get it...)
....because I know the sick patients are more important than me.
It feels like the severe under-resourcing of the system creates a patient-vs-patient scenario that no-one wants to play.
There's certainly no reward for being pro-active.
For us, in this city, it's just not as simple as "...just use the public system and quit whining..." The PS isn't up to scratch.
Calvin27
Eats Squid
The policy is merely a symptom of the structural tax treatment of health insurance. Normalise (either remove or make it a universal flat unavoidable tax) the MLS and junk policies disappear. Do you not find it strange that the junk policies are 'just' under the cost of the MLS? Coincidence?
Except they doubled down on the blackmail and do the whole lifetime loading thing as well.
Scotty T
Walks the walk
What about self induced mountain biking injuries? I mean I've watched all the PB Friday Fails and some of those kooks were never gonna make that shit, completely self induced drain on the health system for their preferred drug of adrenaline. Fuck them.
pink poodle
気が狂っている男
This is the sad reality of a great many parts of our society.
If you don't lime Michael Moore, you won't like it. If you do like him, it is one of his best.
Calvin27
Eats Squid
Drag your bike onto the nearest road and claim TAC.
Nah under my scheme in the fine print mtb related injuries get vip treatment. All the free 3D printed titanium parts your body can handle.
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Ultra Lord
Hurts. Requires Money. And is nerdy.
FUCKEN KNEW IT!Either that, or your GP just wants to price gouge you and send you off to his expensive mates so they can all drive their half million dollar cars between their property portfolio whilst screaming how the 99% doesn't know how good a God Complex feels...like you seem to think they do when they're not doing everything they can to help you with your health concerns.
Rise against the burgeoise comrades!
born-again-biker
Is looking for a 16" bar
I said $400,000 cars, not half million mate. C'mon, that was inaccurate quoting - I expect better from a demi-GodAn ounce of prevention is worth a gallon of treatment.
Which is why we screen for these things. Assuming you're asymptomatic, and both grandfathers were over 55 when diagnosed, your risk factor (on the history given) is only slightly above average, with 2nd degree relatives from two sides of the family and a 1st degree with polyps.
So even from a screening perspective, you're low priority and being triaged accordingly. There are also other first line screening procedures and pathology that can be done to analyse risk factors, and if any of these show flags, I have few doubts your position in the cue will change dramatically.
Either that, or your GP just wants to price gouge you and send you off to his expensive mates so they can all drive their half million dollar cars between their property portfolio whilst screaming how the 99% doesn't know how good a God Complex feels...like you seem to think they do when they're not doing everything they can to help you with your health concerns.
But....the first part of your post contains more useful info about my bowel cancer concerns than anything I have received locally.
So Thank you! (It's a shame a mtn bike forum is providing me with medical advice and not my local system (no offense intended))
But why the 3+ year wait? Surely that's not exactly "triaged accordingly..." ??
How can we know if my bowel is changing when there's no initial data as a baseline?
hifiandmtb
Sphincter beanie
It's called knowledge-sharing. If they kept doing that, there'd be no need for doctors!
Calvin27
Eats Squid
This reminds me to realign my crystals to account for the change in chakra levels around this time of the year. I'm glad someone shared that knowledge with me because it has shaved .05 seconds of my strava times.
Seriously though another thing that shits me about PHI is they go hard on extras that are dubious and questionable while the basic stuff is bare bones and still relies heavily on the public system anyway. I fell like I am subsidising the someone else paying another person to place hot rocks on their back for an hour...
born-again-biker
Is looking for a 16" bar
Hey that's enough about about "hot rocks"... We're still in shock 'round here after the junkie gunman rambo siege!
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