Australian Medical Costs (to Peggy)

[Guest guest]

Hi Peggy,

I guess we do have what Americans would call " socialized " medicine. This

means that you can go to the doctor of your choice, Medicare will refund

the amount of the " scheduled " fee, in my case $21 and I pay the difference

($14) - my doctor charges $35. You can go to a clinic where they " bulk

bill " , ie. you give them your Medicare card and pay nothing. In the case

of my Pain specialist, his bill says $84.00, the " scheduled " fee is $56 ...

Medicare pays him $42 or thereabouts, and he accepts $7 from me as full

settlement ... so it's actually cheaper for me to see my specialist than

the GP (general practitioner). I must admit I was shocked when in the USA

just how expensive a visit to the doctor could be!! I am on sickness

benefits, so prescriptions only cost me $3.20 flat rate with my Health Care

Card, which is excellent, especially as I am on Pancreatin (Viokase) for

IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) type symptoms which sells for nearly $80 a

bottle of 500 tablets! I also have private health insurance for full

private hospital coverage with the doctors of my choice, private room,

phone calls, etc all covered, and " Super Extras " which covers dental,

glasses, chiropractics, chinese medicine, osteopathy etc etc etc etc ...

and all of this only costs me $296 Australian per quarter ... so all in all

I'm not too badly off as far as that goes.

Good grief ... that was rather long wasn't it! Sorry )

I am currently in the process of presenting a rather large amount of

research material to my doctor and specialist regarding the appropriateness

of treatment of chronic pain with opiates ... I'll be sure to let you all

know what happens.

Thanks Peggy for your thoughts ...

I waffled on a bit here, but some of you might be interested in how medical

costs work in Australia anyway.

Luv,

Kit.