Reply With QuoteIs your bank account number/BSB (that you pay your doctor with) registered with medicare? If it's not, you won't get any rebates.
Abolishing medicare
I have recently been thinking regarding medical healthcare in Australia.
In the USA they seem to have a mindset to completely reject medical benefits systems such as medicare and instead opt for a more private style health care system.
Given the liberal governments have been trying to get rid of it for ages by undermining it reducing its benefits and coverage.
(going to the doctors once was bulk billed, then they started billing the patient a "gap" the it started costing more and more.)
going to the doctors used to cost me last year $80 per visit. now it costs me $150 per visit. this last time i went they said "its not letting us process the medicare submission" so i have fronted that bill entirely.
This month alone i have had to go to the doctors for an injury to my foot that has required monitoring and subsequent visits and according to my banking app i have paid $500 on GP visits this month.
looking at my bank app medicare doesn't seem to have made any reimbursement payments at all (i pay full and they are supposed to pay me back less the gap)
so that begs me the question. why do we have / need medicare if the system doesn't work for everyone and people are left out of pocket anyway.
there was a very large period of time in my early 20s between 20 and 25 where medicare was not reimbursing me at all and i was paying in full back then too.
Should Australia look at abolishing it?
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Is your bank account number/BSB (that you pay your doctor with) registered with medicare? If it's not, you won't get any rebates.
I just called and checked with medicare and they said everything is correct on their end. they also said they have not received anything from the doctors surgery they then said that the doctors surgery will have to call the providers line to discuss the issue if they are unable to submit it.Originally Posted by wotnot
I then called the doctors surgery who said that they tried to put it through again and it still came up with an error. I mentioned that they medicare said they need to call through the provider line and they then said they have already put it through to medicare and i have to just "wait 48 hours and see"
I explained when the computer comes up with an error that is like a patient saying "ouch what you did hurt please don't do that" and if it came with an error then they have to discuss with medicare.
The doctor surgery then fobbed it off and said that if that is the case after 48 hours i will have to chase it up with medicare.
in other words. "go away we have your money now this isn't our problem now."
additionally they didn't even give me the invoice / receipt beyond the print out from the eftpos machine so there is no way of me being able to even recover the costs either.
I don't talk to ppl on the phone (waste of the call charge typically), I do all this shit through mygov..... but, if your doctor's practice is at fault, why abolish medicare? =)
Al Bundy (29-11-22)
for a large portion of my life i have had to pay for my own medical expenses myself without medicare, seems that doctors are not even trying to charge it properly anymore so if i am going to be paying for my own medical expenses myself fully again without medicare why should my tax dollars pay for other peoples medical expenses too?
I guess the question is why why don't they have it in America? whatever reasons they have there should be applicable here.
I think you're the fool for not going elsewhere, but I will take that back if you say you live in the back woods with only one GP. My local GP medical centre accepts bulk billing. The hospitals around me will see you for free, operate for free, etc, and if you have private health, you go up a notch with them. So I don't see any logic in your comments. Our health care is very good, I believe. American health care I wouldn't give two bob. If you really believe American health care is better and you want it here, please don't slam the door when you leave to go over there.
You can learn alot using Google, and the search button.....
got me fooked what your goin on about. we have always paid in full for a our doctor visits
and then depending on what it was for we have been re-imbursed the percentage that
is set for it.
there have been times where we have got back fk all because its not covered completely by medicare
etc.
The only thing i have never had to pay for is xrays and blood tests.
dont say linux if i wanted it id install it
You are obviously going to the wrong practice if you are paying those sort of prices, but I agree with Keith, maybe you have no choice where you are, hard to say. The US model is basically user pays, where if you have the money you can get whatever you want done, but if you can't afford to pay then basically you are shit out of luck. Do you really want a system where only the rich people can afford medical help and those who can't afford it get nothing, and all this based on your experience with Medicare?
Just how selfish and stupid are you?
Cheers
Ted (Al)
so you want to abolish a well-loved and egalitarian system just because it doesn't suit you?
entitled much, eh?
My son has a condition called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, he has endured a major back fusion and 2 Nuss procedures, 1 as a child and the other as an adult, we are in private health and have used Medicare- I know we moan and groan about the cost of living but thanks to the Australian medical system and medicare and PBS he can move on to a fruitful life and be a productive human being. If we lived anywhere else in the world where private medical only - we would have been absolutely fu##ed
I understand some get to abuse, some don't need to use at all, but I would prefer to moan about the food while sitting in a public hospital healing after some stupid accident while cleaning my gutters during the rain..........
f
有段者
I'm not talking Chinese here, although we maybe speaking it one day. My local GP is bulk billed, same as all the medical centres around my area. Whenever the wife or I go to a specialist, we pay the consultation and get reimbursed the medicare allowed amount. We get elective surgery, we pay the health fund excess and the rest is paid for by the fund but if we were not in a health fund, that surgery would be free from a hospital, only thing is you may have to wait a long time for the surgery. So if you are like the OP and paying for everything and have no alternative, I would be pissed also.
You can learn alot using Google, and the search button.....
I shouldn't have to give up my citizenship with my country of birth because I feel that my tax dollars are wasted on medical services i am not the beneficiary of. and its also not that simple. you cant just migrate to another country because you want to.
additionally there are no bulk billing doctors that i am aware of around here. furthermore My doctor is aware of my medical conditions and my treatments etc he isn't the problem its their admin and reception / practice that is the issue in this case.
from where i stand i also see bulk billing doctors to be poor quality because if they where actually good at their job they would be able to charge as other doctors do. furthermore in my experience in the past with bulk billing doctors have confirmed this.
however to clarify in this instance i suspect that the reason this has happened is that the practice has billed me and bulk billed at the same time. that is the only way i can think of that the error they are receiving would come up, furthermore fobbing me of the way they have is probably so they dont have to explain their mistake and or fix it. that also would explain why they don't want to contact the provider line to medicare and get the authorization manually.
Last edited by bazzy; 29-11-22 at 05:55 PM. Reason: clarification
" I feel that my tax dollars are wasted on medical services i am not the beneficiary of"
Ah, seems you possess a victim mentality. Okay, lets take a wholistic view. You state your Doctor is aware of your medical conditions, so I'm assuming you would be taking a large amount of medication? So if your tax dollars are wasted on medical services you cannot benefit from I agree, the full, NON PBS cost of those medicines you take would mean it's costing you hundreds of thousands of dollars per month to buy them. Oh, you say your medicines are cheap, maybe that's because of the PBS scheme your tax dollars are paying for. That's just one thing. Suppose to don't pay for blood tests and other items that are directly billed to medicare but I expect you pay the full costs for those also. I think you initially came here to have a whinge. You are living in one the best counties in the world. Smell the roses buddy.
You can learn alot using Google, and the search button.....
wotnot (29-11-22)
Medicare levy is 2%. I'd be happy to double that to remove the compulsory health insurance rort and have all doctors bulk bill with a small excess of something like $10 per visit.
Paying insurance companies to collect money with the majority of that going into their pockets. We all know the majority of that money goes into running the company than funding the health system.
It's a great way to encourage me to stay away from the health system. I went to the quack for a free check up paid by my employer because they actually care.
Money well spent because its more expensive to replace me if I sick or dead. But the quack wasn't happy with the check up. They said, if you don't hear anything from us as a follow up, then everything is good. A week later they call me to come in for a follow up. Thinking they might have something important to say I agreed.
"Oh, we just wanted to follow up to tell you everything is ok. We noticed you blood is a bit redder than most people which isn't a bad thing. OK, pay us $85 bucks for you taking time off work and coming in to hear the news.
"Well thank you a ####ing shitload!" Now any time I have something I think might need medical attention, fvck them. I ain't going to that surgery because their shit customer service is fresh in my mind. It's now time for another yearly check up. Overdue. But I really don't want to go and get my "free" checkup because it is feeding these parasites.
Cutting off my some of my own nose so to speak.
I might still go in there but ask them some embarrassing questions before booking. Although I might still take the check up knowing they are going to try and pull the same stunt.
But next time just not make a follow up appointment. When they call, and I know they will. Tell them bluntly why I'm not giving them a second chance.
As for disassembling the Australian medical insurance system and medicare. I will vote for the fvcking Greens before I let that shit happen.
EDS Freekee .... yeah. If you mention that within 300km of here the doctors think you've just made up a disease that doesn't exist.
We now import more incompetent doctors from India than we train to be incompetent doctors in Australia.
If your doctor doesn't kill you, then you'll probably realise you could do the same thing for a lot cheaper yourself.
Yes I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
bazzy (29-11-22)
Big assumption on your part mate. remember what they say about assuming? it makes an ass out of you and me.
no I am not on a "large amount of medication" sorry to disappoint. you don't have to be on medication for a doctor to know your full medical history and to change to another doctor that will give you the same level of care is another thing. they are not all the same they are not all good because they are doctors. a lot of them are simply rubbish.
I am also sorry you feel that way that i am just whinging but to say that we are in "the best country" is patriotic gas lighting. it has even been on ABC a few weeks ago regarding practices fraudulently billing medicare.
however Keith if you resent engaging don't sit there commenting about me posting subject on this forum. i have as much right to be here posting as you have. i am not saying you have to agree with my position but you have absolutely no right to attack my freedom of speech by critter sizing my intentions.
I notice you also have not addressed where i have said about the USA not having this cover.
in fact when they put in a medicare type system (i believe it was called obamacare) why is it if a medicare system is so good that they removed it as soon as he was out of office?
there are other ways of achieving healthcare for example
the person that is seeking treatment gets the bill and that offsets their annual tax. every time you get a medical bill, bill for blood tests. bill for medication these offset your tax and covered at the end of the year.
the elderly or people on pensions can then be covered by a scheme that is funded by the government or through private health or both.
this system would incentivize people to be productive in society rather than a burden.
as for your point on blood tests while we are on the subject, yes i have in the past paid for blood tests, in fact there was an instance where i went to see the doctor with an issue. the doctor couldn't find the cause. mentioned that a particular test would confirm or deny what he thought the issue was. I paid for the blood test that then came back and he was able to identify from that what the issue was. that was at my expense.
I bring that up because that allowed the issue to be addressed before it was able to progress to a point where it resulted in a chronic illness that would have ended up costing the healthcare system more in the long run.
another example of this is in diabetic care. the test strips etc are not subsidized unless you are registered that registration is renewed every 6 months and has to be co signed by both the doctor and the patient. these test strips are integral in diabetic glucose control and poor diabetic control results in massive costs to the medical system long term. yet your beloved health care system inhibits and outright restricts easy access to those without going through many hoops to a product that will save patients lives in the long run instead telling doctors to rely on HBA1C more for diabetic control. this is ludicrous when the HBA1C tells an average over 3 months when a test strip tells you what your blood glucose is immediately so steps can be taken again immediately to address it rather than wait for 3 months of damage to your body to find out you have crap control of your diabetes.
additionally the PBS scheme only covers some drugs. meaning medical practitioners are less likely to proscribe medications that are not on the PBS limiting the range of care. for example a medication that is not on the PBS may be much better for a given condition however a practitioner is more likely to proscribe the lesser drug or not even mention other options as a result. meaning as a result your level of care is diminished.
there are cases where people have had to go overseas to get treatment for illnesses. if our system was so good and so world class that would simply not be necessary.
We definitely don't want the US system here. Twenty years ago, a former work colleague was a passenger in a taxi that crashed. The cab driver was killed, my colleague and his brother ended up in hospital for a couple of nights. The bill (picked up by their travel insurance) was US$100k EACH. And that was 20 years ago! Eeek.
That's incorrect. The health insurers are required to report their "Management Expense Ratio" or MER to the regulator and are ranked on this key performance metric. The for-profit health insurers are typically returning 80c in every dollar in paying customers' medical bills. Many of the not for profits are up in the 90s. Now compare that with your typical general insurer: most house and car insurance companies only give back 60c or so in the dollar. We should be asking why the general insurers are so terribly wasteful and inefficient compared to the private health insurers?
Next time you see private health insurance costs increase, stop and think "where is it all going"? If the insurer is a not for profit (many small to medium ones are), then it certainly isn't being taken out in profits. It's all flowing straight out to pay the doctors, the specialists, the pharmaceutical industry and so on. They all put their prices up year after year, then cry in horror when the private insurers put their prices up yet again. Where do they think all that lovely spondoola they are raking in is coming from !!??
The huge problem is that the entire medical industry treats private health insurance like the proverbial fattened calf and gouges the health funds like nothing else. Why is it that in Australia, our private health companies are forced to pay much more than New Zealanders for the same prosthetic? How come there's one expensive drug that costs five times as much in Australia as in New Zealand? ( ). Why is it that if you go to a doctor or specialist and they realise that you have private insurance, they suddenly start ordering up tests right, left and centre? If the tests are needed, would they have ordered them if I was self funded? A relative used to work in a private hospital - surgeon drops a $20,000 hip prosthesis on the operating theatre floor... "oops. Now it's no longer sterile - better get a fresh one out". Guess who pays for that ruined $20,000 device? Not the careless surgeon who made the mistake: it's the patient's private insurer.
Yes - I've had that. The doctor outright refused to tell me anything over the phone, then stung me a similar amount to you just to read a few lines off a pathology report that said "everything is fine". It's not just the money - it's the hour in the waiting room and the twenty minute drive each way as well. I now take the approach that if there is anything seriously amiss, they'll pester me to come in.
The Australian medical system has many serious problems, but weirdly, it is considered one of the best in the world. I hate to think what some other countries are like.
[EDIT: clarified terminology around MER]
Last edited by shred; 29-11-22 at 09:01 PM.
Got a source for this, apart from political ads? ABC fact checker at the last election confirmed your claim to be false.
I'll just talk a snippet of your long winded speech where you "distort the truth" to justify what you say. I am a diabetic and you are registered for life with Diabetes Australia, not, as you say " every six months". Previously you didn't have to attend a Doctor for test strips, but Diabetes Aust made it a process as it was being rorted, Diabetes Aust words, when I enquired. Since Covid, you haven't needed to attend a Doctor to get test strips, what 2 years now.
So yes, your right, you are free to be here, I never said you weren't. Again, the victim mentality as I never "attacked your freedom of speech". You have to be commended though in the fact you have never used the PBS scheme that your tax money pay's for. You pay for all your blood tests. Well done. Also, as you have hinted at, this is a public forum, you posted here waiting for comment, most people responding basically disagreed with you, I was a little stronger, and now you "arc" up and try to justify with untruths. Wake up and smell the roses Bazzy. My opinion, which is mine, is you play the victim.
You can learn alot using Google, and the search button.....
wotnot (30-11-22)
I’d be changing doctor surgeries.
My gp will not charge for subsequent visits for the same thing, within reason.
If I go for say a procedure, stitches for example, you will go back later to check the dressing, no charge, go back to get stitches out, no charge.
A lot of the time, coz I’m such a great bloke, he will just bulk bill me.
Been going to the same surgery for over 30 yrs, never had any issues.
Shop,around find a good one and stick to them.
__________________________________________________ __
Statistically, if you wait long enough, everything will happen!
I concur..I am in a similar situation (well not for 30 years, but a lot) and have no real complaints.
Back before Medicare, the system relied on private medical insurance. It was cheap. But the problem was that the lazy and stupid didn't bother, much like now about ANYTHING. Medicare saved us from ourselves with a levy (1% I think) plus tax revenue.
Even blind freddy could see that there would be funding problems as what medicare did in fact was allow the medical profession to tap into the public purse. The conservative side of politics were the first to blabber about this, as well as the lie that Medicare was free. It's not and never has been except for the really poor. BUT, it saves people from themselves and works even if a little clumsily at times. The Liberals never really wanted to get rid of it as they knew instant electoral annihilation would result. So they went after the inefficiancies as ALL oppositions do.
The NDIS is the same. Good idea, but never properly thought about and considered. The public servants in charge of it went crazy getting peple on it and so first places went to the junkies and dreggs who were in front of them. Now it's hard for the genuinely needy to access. My eldest daughter who is badly epileptic had to really struggle with my wifes help to get on it. This forums Admin has a tale in this regard. And so we have a rushed in idea that was managed poorly, resulting in the never ending cost increases.
I had a stroke late last year. I went into hospital as a private patient, and was looked after like I expected to be. A public patient would have received care that was just as good. The food was adequate too. People just shouldn't whine like they do!
A month or so ago, my wife went to the local hospital of her own volition, suspecting she had issues. Free tests were done, and just as she suspected there was a problem. Cervical cancer. She then switched to our private health and had an operation in Sydney last Monday. Waiting for results now.
You have to be able to work the system. Because she suspected that there WAS a problem, we avoided all the doctors appointments, the visits to specialists, tests and costs, and most importantly TIME that would have been wasted going through the usual people. This was all her idea, not mine I should state.
Medicare IS a pain at times, and it will ALWAYS get more expensive. But get over it. No one in their right mind should ever want the American system or lack thereof.
The fact that there's a highway to hell and a stairway to heaven says a lot about the anticipated traffic flow.
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