Australia Flashcards
System
Has both private and public insurance. Medicare for all is the public one that all Australians are automatically enrolled into. Medicare pays for physician visits and public hospital visits.
About half of Australians (wealthier) get supplemental private insurance. This covers speech therapy, dental and private hospital access. The govt does provide fairly generous income linked subsidies to get people to try and sign up for private insurance.
What’s covered
Medicare covers: Physician visits Diagnostic tests Surgeries Eyes Some dental surgery
Doesn’t cover: Ambulance services Physical therapy Podiatry Routine dental care Eyeglasses
Long term care
Not considers part of healthcare system . But, based on the aged care act of 1997, the common wealth covers long term care for people over 65 as a welfare entitlement. This includes a lot:
In home and institutional long term care
Food shopping
This is about 10% of healthcare costs. Specifically the government pays 90% of home based care vs 75% of institutional nursing home care. Patients pay the rest
How expensive
10% of GDP
$5200 per person
How it’s paid for
No premiums, paid by a 2% income tax and general taxation(goods and services tax, progressive income tax, employer payroll and property)
Private insurance is funded through premiums, but subsidies are provided for many
Cost sharing
Medicare has gaps, just like in America. So they pay a portion and patients pay the rest. But there’s no co pays or deductibles(except drugs have some deductibles)
These payments that patients make are called gap payments. I think Medicare pays 85%. $300 is the out of pocket max for patients to pay doctors and $1460 everything (including hospitals)
Prescription drugs
Government negotiating and regulating of prices
$28 co pay was average unless you’re on a pension then it’s $5
$1600 out of pocket max for drugs, including drugs used in hospitals
Physician and nurses
Average GP makes 103k
Nurses
Doctor choice
Free choice of physician
Wait times
There are waits for elective surgeries
Problem
Most doctors are in big cities, where it’s a little inconvenient for those in rural areas
