Australian Health Care

It's been a while since we've done an international health care system episode. We thought you might need a break. That break ends now. Australia has the only continental, universal health care system, and it's topic of this week's Healthcare Triage.


John Green -- Executive Producer
Stan Muller -- Director, Producer
Aaron Carroll -- Writer
Mark Olsen -- Graphics

[baotruong]

I feel very fortunate to live in Australia. When I was young, I was hospitalised for months, had multiple bloods and tests (xray and ultrasounds etc) run every day sometimes multiple tests and bloods taken daily. The doctors and nurses alway made sure my parents and in the loop and felt as comfortable as possible. Once I started getting better, I then needed to go through physio therapy and they even threw in a therapist for me to talk to, to make sure I was coping. My parents fortunately didn't have to pay for any of it, because it was a public hospital. Additionally my mum was able to take time of work and still get paid, under the carers leave then my dad took time off too, same thing. Yes taxes are annoying, but at the same time it's random situations like this that make it worth it. Even if it only happens once in a life time. haha

[markw]

I spent a month in I.C.U in Melbourne Australia, from a Really nasty Flue-Asthmatic episode and a month in Rehab. Cost to me- Zero, Best healthcare in the world, for the best country in the world, bar none!

[pigletification]

I recently had open heart surgery (triple bypass) and cancer surgery in australia. It cost 92k my bill was Zero

[MsLouisez]

I think this is a good video, although it doesn't accurately represent the Australian Health Care system IMHO (being a health care professional who works in a large public hospital in Australia).
It is possible to see a GP for nothing, and to buy generic drugs on the PBS which significantly lowers their cost.
However, the part I find the most interesting is you can attend an emergency department, gets test, scans, x-rays, be seen by specialist Dr's, physio's, dieticians, etc, have multiple drugs administered, be admitted and continue treatment, have ANY operation required, have follow up care, be discharged, receive hospital in the home, or a district nursing service, and not pay 1 cent, not for any of it, not for the tests, the drugs, the operations, the follow up care.
That is what makes it so great, not limits on out of pocket spending for the people seeing their GPs. This also comes with the highest standards, and strict targets on waiting times.
Outpatient public elective waiting times are always an issue, which is where the private system comes into play. However, if you are actually sick, or break something, you have quick access to free healthcare, which will never make you reach for your wallet.
Also the "tax incentives" might save you money on tax, however to have private insurance costs allot more then the Medicare tax levy (when insurance it is not needed in Australia), so in-fact you are loosing money. Not many Australians know this though, and the incentive does decrease the burden on public health expenditure. 

[petehowell]

I’m always bemused by the anti-universal health care brigade in the US, especially the view that it is ‘socialist’. Well, yes - just because something is socialist doesn’t automatically make it bad. No-one should ever miss out on health care due to cost. We love it here.

[LordCumberdale]

Was with you right up until "obesity is extremely low". Even by US standards my understanding was that we're not far behind, and rising.

[meganhartman]

Again, as an American: WHY DON'T WE HAVE THIS?!?

[annierosha]

Thanks for saying such nice things about Australia. Having lived in several countries apart from Oz, I can safely say that this is a great country for medical and pharmaceutical care!

[stevetarrant]

I live in Australia and have limited private health care cover (some limited dental, optical and ambulance cover) Last year I developed a kidney infection causing my kidneys to crash. I ended up with severe gout throughout my body and was in extreme pain. Ended up getting an ambulance to the hospital where I spent a week getting treated. A week after that I noticed my left calf was sore when walking. Diagnosed with DVT(deep vein thrombosis) caused by my inability to move about when the gout was bad. This then led to PE(pulmonary embolism). That's blood clots on the lung and another 4 days in hospital. Overall, including the following 4 months, I have had xrays, MRI's, numerous ultrasounds, cortisone injection in my shoulder and more blood tests than I can count. Total cost was $0. Everything covered on Medicare. My only on-going costs at the moment is medicine which is quite cheap in any case. The only thing my health cover paid for was the ambulance, saved about $750 on that one. I wonder how much all this would have cost in America without insurance. PS, our obesity is definitely not low...

[vincentnevels]

God Bless Australia of your Healthcare System !

[ItsRainingHippos]

“Yes that’s complicated. Thanks, Australia.” Basically sums up everything about Australia.

[bobprice]

Sounds like the USA can learn a lot from Australia about health care.

[william]

Australia = Best healthcare in the world! Proud to be Aussie!

[LittleMoths]

This is a hard time to make a video about Australia's health system because we have a government who seem pretty keen to dismantle various elements of our public health system. This video could be very out of date quite soon. As an Australian, that really worries me.

[OzNix]

I’m Australian and 35 years old and and didn’t know a lot of this information, mainly because I know I can go to a hospital for a non-elective issue and it will be looked after for free. I can see a GP for free. My prescriptions are under $6. If referred to a specialist, that’s usually free too, including x-rays and blood tests.

[gamerguy]

Wow thanks for the great video, I am Australian and have been waiting for you to review our system. My wife has type 1 diabetes so we are well acquainted with our healthcare system. We are grateful for our subsidised medications, saving us over $250 dollars on a script of insulin. We also appreciate the government regulations which oblige our private health insurance to cover pre-existing conditions after 1 year, therefore covering my wife's insulin pump which our insurance company replaces every 4years. Keep up the good work and thanks again.

[Maggieeeat]

Thank you for this video! I have just started working in health insurance industry in Australia and as a new migrant, had some struggles in understanding the healthcare system. This video is very helpful!

[janesmith]

As an Australian I don't find it complicated, you get used to it 😌 like most people under 30 I don't have private health insurance, most people don't find it worthwhile financially unless they have a lot of health needs especially using a lot of allied health professionals.

My husband has the absolute cheapest private health cover ($80AUD a month) which covers life saving essentials like surgery, hospital care, ambulance, essential prosthetics.

For him, who has had 2 or 3 surgeries every year for the past 4 years, this has saved us many thousands. The most he would pay for surgery and hospital stay is $1500AUD, sometimes it's less ($500 for surgeon, $500 for anesthetist, $500 for hospital). He recently got an essential prosthetic that would have costed $20'000 or more, for free.

We often try to imagine how much our combined medical costs would be in America, it's hard to know but I would estimate half a million dollars with the surgeries, numerous specialists, allied health, doctors, medications etc.

We would be completely bankrupt so many times over, and he would almost certainly be dead unless his parents had sold there house and lost there entire life savings to support him and his medical costs.

As it is we have had to pay approximately $6000 AUD each year, and this is extreme for Australia because of his fairly extreme health situation.

But $6k a year is something you can work into a budget for a year and so we have remained debt free, and he remains alive.

[IPASAustralia]

Thanks for taking time to do these general comparisons. They are very interesting (and make me proud to be an Aussie).

[teresaever]

The only thing that Australian Healthcare is short on is providing free or subsidized dental.