Austraila Residents
 

was talking about meds. and wondered if medicine is socialized in Australia.
thanks for the infor.

Interesting. Apparently it's a combo system. Found this article, although it was written in 2010 so may be somewhat out of date:
http://www.niemanwatchdog.org/index....&askthisid=474

thank you for the interesting information.

I'm no Aussie, but I do medical transcription for an Australian company (yay internet). Hopefully our Australian friends will correct me but this has been my experience typing out their records.

It is a dual system in which if you can pay for private coverage you can or you can be taken care of in the "government" system. My experience has been that seeing a GP (general practitioner) is not terribly complicated and they are usually accommodating with appointments. It's seeing a specialist that takes time and having surgery too. Those run on categories of urgency. I've seen someone have a heart attack and not get a follow up with a cardiologist for a few months because that specialist was booked so far out (now that doesn't mean the GP may not be doing the necessary tests and intervention in the meantime). I have also seen women with very painful endometriosis go months without their approved surgery because they weren't urgent enough.

If you pay private I believe it's pretty much like here.

So my experience from the other side of the earth is that it's great, unless you need a specialist or aren't in danger of death or loss of limb in the near future.

That's just what I've seen in my work. Hoping our Australian friends can chime in.

The Australian system sounds like the UK. Free if you want or you can pay for private consultations and treatment.