| Just addressing the Australia vs. US healthcare thing for a moment, I need to vigorously disagree with you on the implied superiority of the Australian system. I would argue that: 1. Quality of care is better in the US (totally subjective, but in the US we're waiting less and getting better treatment with less runaround/referrals/arguments; if you have insurance, you'll get whatever you want without a fight) 2. Cost is about on par with Australia (AUD3000/year for private health, plus 1000-3000 for Medicare supplement, plus whatever you pay in taxes; in terms of raw cash paid it's actually very close. But Australian PHI doesn't cover anything of value until you're hospitalised; urgent but non-life-threatening stuff is basically paid out of pocket. US has HSAs and practically everything is covered.) 3. US healthcare spend is measured in monopoly money and, assuming you have insurance, real costs are not easily comparable. I don't have any hard data on these, though, and so am very happy to be educated. |
Stating this as fact basically means you've never been to an American doctor, or are extremely lucky in your local hospitals. Waiting months for an appointment just so you can be told to see someone else is par for the course if you don't have a "normal" health condition in America. And after all the playing around trying to find someone actually willing to diagnose you with something, you then get to play the fun game of paying the bills. Remember, no matter the discounts the insurance company has with the hospital, they still benefit by denying you coverage through whatever fine print they can manage. They get paid regardless