| SvennoJ said: The healthcare system itself is many shades of grey. It works great, but it's severely understaffed in many places. Also underfunded as our family doctor has been sitting with a broken fax machine for over a month already (why do they still use faxes anyway) and my wife had to bring up her own blood results on her phone to show the doctor... |
That sounds absolutely terrible.
We have a national health-database (Australia) that allows all private or public health practitioners/outlets access to your health information, scans, appointments and more digitally and instantly.
For example when I had my motorcycle accident I was admitted to a public hospital which did my X-Rays and Ultra sounds... Then I went to another clinic which specialized in MRI scans a week later due to swelling.
I then organized with my private health for an assessment and determined I needed surgery, they had access to all the above instantly and could make a determination based on those results.
Eventually I decided to get surgery through the public system at another hospital due to convenience and quality of care.
Did I mention none of this cost me a cent and was super quick and easy?
| SvennoJ said: But when it works it's great. My son recently broke his upper arm playing ice hockey. ER visit, x-rays, cat scan, fracture clinic specialist visit, elbow day surgery (3 pins in his upper arm), pain meds, follow up visit next week. Cost to us, zero, one form signed (consent form for surgery) The efficiency of much less paperwork can't be understated. |
The only paperwork I did for the above was a release form from the hospital after the accident which only required my signature.
| SvennoJ said: Our youngest has chronic acid reflux issues, visits a pediatrician every 3 months to track progress. No wait times there, no cost. |
We have a system based on prioritization, those who have gone through significant trauma are expedited through the system to return individuals to normalcy as soon as possible.
I never had to wait for any of my appointments, I got in straight away when I wanted pending my own personal availability.
| SvennoJ said: But yes, generally medication isn't covered (only for kids) and you have to pay for that yourself. Luckily there are a lot cheaper alternatives for the same medications in Canada, but still some treatments are out of reach here as well. (There is/was an experimental treatment for my wife's chronic issues, but that would come out to $12,000 a month to import the meds from the USA without any guarantees it would even actually help) |
I never paid for my medication. But most medication that is "needed" on an on-going basis tends to be heavily subsidized by the pharmaceuticals benefits scheme.
| SvennoJ said: Our main problem is public funding cuts, lack of doctors, especially practitioners and nurses. That's a matter of politics. (F Doug Ford) |
I am a massive advocate for universal health care and investment in health services.
I believe healthcare should be a human right... And even if you are a visitor in Australia, you get the same treatment as everyone else in our public system.
Our healthcare is not only cheaper than the USA's on a per-capita basis, but our quality of care is vastly superior as well.
I just don't get WHY the USA is so adverse to a universal system, Europe and Australia have demonstrably demonstrated it's efficacy.
| Ryuu96 said: European Unity 💖 A Series of Ukrainian Allies Have Come Out in the Last Hour With Messages of Support: Part 1 A Series of Ukrainian Allies Have Come Out in the Last Hour With Messages of Support: Part 2 America is absolutely destroying any respect they ever had. |
Honestly I would like to see Australia re-assess our involvement with the USA and reform stronger ties with the UK/Europe once again.
And that includes AUKUS.
Absolutely disgusted with how Trump/Vance treated Zelensky.
Trump and Vance have always had everyone in life delivered to them, Zelensky has had to endure death and destruction for years and fight for everything he has.
They are not even in the same league in terms of credibility.
I honestly wish my country wasn't allied to the USA currently.
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