[tomhoward]

I'm in Australia too, and I equally laud the system we have here.

But note that this article was about a Korean family travelling in the US.

A foreign family travelling in Australia won't be covered by Australian Medicare and will be at the mercy of the medical cover on their travel insurance, which is the real story here.

That's not to say that the charges for this visit weren't exorbitant, but your case isn't an apples with apples comparison.