medical in australia

links to be insterted later when im actually awake




i posted about getting back A LOVELY LARGE AMOUNT of taxes a few days back, and someone commented:

".... We do get a tax refund for my daughter, but it's not even close to what we paid in medical bills to have her! ...."



well. heres the real beauty of it. basically, anything other than elective surgery is covered by the government health care over here, so having the baby was free. having three ultrasounds was free. being in hospital every week because my bloodpressure couldnt decide if it wanted to be high or low was free.

you do pay for doctors visits. sometimes. depends on if they bulk bill - you sign a paper, they charge the government straight up.

if they DONT bulk bill, you pay the fee, usually about $35 for a normal doctors visit, they give you a receipt, you take it to medicare, and medicare gives you back $27. or something. my doctor bulk bills, so i havent had to do it for a while.

same with any specialist. the government gives you back something like 70% of the 'proscribed fee' if the doctor doesnt bulk bill.

so lets assume its 70% because i dont know how much it actually is, and its too early in the morning to go look it up.

and lets pick easy numbers because its too early in the morning.

now obviously, doctors can charge whatever they want. but its usually not TOO MUCH more than proscribed fee.

so assuming the p.f is $100, you go to the pediatrician, he charges $120, you take your receipt to medicare and get $70 back - in cash if you want - and youre still only out of pocket $50.


my sister went to THE NORMAL DOCTOR in the states, and was charged something like $300. which was aparantly cheap.

I CANNOT COMPREHEND THIS. i have never paid more than $9 out of pocket for a normal doctor IN MY LIFE. i think even for the pediatrician for my son - who weve been to about 10 times in 3 years - im never out more than $70.

when i was in hospital after my son was born - they kept me in for 4 days because i lost a fair amount of blood - my husband and my mother went home together. he had only been in the country for 3 months. and he commented to my mother than the hospital hadnt told him how much it was going to cost him yet. my mother had to explain that it was free. i dont think he had understood when i told him about medicare.

if you choose to go to hospital for an emergency (4 month old has excema so bad he's on his second dose of anti-biotics and his feet are covered in pimples? GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM.) or have a baby or whatever WITHOUT PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE you will not pay a single cent. even if your in for a week and see a dermatologist, a pediatrician, and an allergy specialist EVERY DAY. and when you have to take your kid back to the hospital every month for a check up with THE HEAD OF PEDIATRIC DERMATOLOGY, you will not pay a single cent.

also - prescriptions. some things, like anti-depressants, antibiotics, heart medication, stuff like that, is on the 'pharmaceutical benefits scheme'. so you get it cheap. and if you have a pensioners/low income earners card, you pay even less. i dont think ive ever paid more than $40 for a prescription.



just another reason im glad we moved back here.

food may be expensive (groceries were only $230 this week. for 3 people and a pre-schooler. and i was happy. becasue it was so low), houses may be expensive (there is a REASON we live with my mother, other than just keeping her from being lonely), but id rather be paying off a mortgage than a birth.