What not to do
There is much debate in North America about health care systems: which is better, the Canadian or American system? (Which is more of a debate over the better of two evils - as we know neither system is perfect.)
But I gotta tell you - whatever needs to be done to those health care systems - just don't base your changes off of the Australian health care model because it's crap!
Now seeing as I'm Canadian and spent the majority of my life living in Canada (Ontario to be exact), I have little to no experience with private health care and private health care funds and the like. My first exposure to them was my first job here in Australia - I worked for one of the major private health insurance companies - and man, you only have to be here a short time to understand what a great deal I had (for those of you still living there - you have) in Ontario. It costs me over $600.00 a year to get half of what I had in Canada for free!!!!
Now - even if I do say so myself - I'm fairly bright, definitely well-educated and am fairly quick on picking up new concepts, yet I find the health care system out here almost impossible to understand. (The one piece I do get is that if I don't have health insurance, my taxes go up by more than $600.00, so in essence its cheaper for me to have health insurance than not... God, I sure am a numbers person.)
My current health care insurance is a 'package' that includes hospitals and what they call extras. Under my extras I can claim for massages, but I just discovered that this only applies to masseurs that are registered with my fund. But a masseur can only register with a fund if someone tries to claim their service. So, although my fund rejected my claim, I may still get some money back if I re-submit my form to my health fund, so my health fund can contact the masseur to see if they want to be part of the fund. If they all agree, I get some money back.....probably a decade from now.
Now this sounds like an awful lot of work for $20, doesn't it? I think so too. And this is only what I need to do to get a refund for a massage, don't even get me started on dentists!!! Thanks goodness I haven't had anything more serious than that.
Ugggh. Australia - the land where bureaucrats go to die.....
But I gotta tell you - whatever needs to be done to those health care systems - just don't base your changes off of the Australian health care model because it's crap!
Now seeing as I'm Canadian and spent the majority of my life living in Canada (Ontario to be exact), I have little to no experience with private health care and private health care funds and the like. My first exposure to them was my first job here in Australia - I worked for one of the major private health insurance companies - and man, you only have to be here a short time to understand what a great deal I had (for those of you still living there - you have) in Ontario. It costs me over $600.00 a year to get half of what I had in Canada for free!!!!
Now - even if I do say so myself - I'm fairly bright, definitely well-educated and am fairly quick on picking up new concepts, yet I find the health care system out here almost impossible to understand. (The one piece I do get is that if I don't have health insurance, my taxes go up by more than $600.00, so in essence its cheaper for me to have health insurance than not... God, I sure am a numbers person.)
My current health care insurance is a 'package' that includes hospitals and what they call extras. Under my extras I can claim for massages, but I just discovered that this only applies to masseurs that are registered with my fund. But a masseur can only register with a fund if someone tries to claim their service. So, although my fund rejected my claim, I may still get some money back if I re-submit my form to my health fund, so my health fund can contact the masseur to see if they want to be part of the fund. If they all agree, I get some money back.....probably a decade from now.
Now this sounds like an awful lot of work for $20, doesn't it? I think so too. And this is only what I need to do to get a refund for a massage, don't even get me started on dentists!!! Thanks goodness I haven't had anything more serious than that.
Ugggh. Australia - the land where bureaucrats go to die.....
posted by lala at
10:10 PM
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