by dedja » Thu Feb 20, 2025 10:14 am
My mother is 89 and does not have any private health insurance.
She is bulk billed by her GP, so no out of pocket expenses. She can get yearly flu vaccinations for free, and previous COVID vaccinations were also free.
I had to take her to hospital a couple of times last year, both times she was well looked after and they treated her as promptly as possible. Yes, it took some hours, but the triage system works in prioritising those most in need first.
If you have a serious or life threatening condition, then a SA public hospital is the best place to be. I just think we perhaps need to be realistic on what to expect from our health system.
For me, I’ve had had private health insurance since I was married. I’ve done the sums and with 3 kids, and the various health issues treated over that time, we’re still ahead when you consider the premiums and what we have received in return.
My youngest was born 3 months premature, and was in hospital for the first 3 months of her life. The cost of her care was astronomical, but we weren’t charge a cent above our insurance premiums. When she was in hospital, there were other babies in the same situation but were admitted as public patients. There was no difference in neonatal care, but we had our own paediatrician who kept us fully informed at all times, and continued care for our daughter until she was 2 years old. The parents of the publicly admitted babies had multiple, ever changing specialists, and were very much less informed, which would have been quite traumatic for them.
There are many other examples I can give from personal experience, and whilst there is some frustration, I think we do alright. The experience may be different for others, and I accept that it’s harder for some.
The only real issue I have is that there is an ever moving target with the agreements between health insurers, hospitals and specialists. We have been fortunate that there hasn’t been any issues with our hospital insurance coverage, but have with specialists.
One of my daughters had bunion surgery on both feet by a private orthopaedic surgeon, the out of pocket expenses were small (anaesthetist fees, they always seem to charge over and above), so about a year later, I went to the same surgeon with a view to have bunion surgery on one foot. In that short time, the agreement between our health insurer and the surgeon had lapsed, so I would have been up for the total cost of the surgery. It was the same deal for all other orthopaedic surgeons I subsequently contacted.
I decided not to proceed, and have had to manage with one foot much wider than the other and the pain that goes with it. In the scheme of things, a first world problem.
I’m still able to cover my 3 adult daughters with family health insurance coverage (until they turn 31 or get married/defacto relationship). It’s bloody expensive, but if my daughters had to pay for singles cover the total premiums for the 5 of us would double.
Our health system is by no means perfect, and if there is a better way that is sustainable then I’m all for it.
Dunno, I’m just an idiot.
I’m only the administrator of the estate of dedja