Does Australia have Health care paid by the government or privately funded?Are all Aussies completely covered?
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Answer:
Treatments in public hospitals are covered by the Medicare (the Australian Public Health System) system, so are supplied at no cost (but a tax levy applies to all Australians), however you may be subjected to long waiting periods. If you are wanting to go a GP, a portion of the service is also paid for by medicare unless you bulk bill it, then all of it is paid. If you choose to get Private Health Insurance, you can go to Private hospitals, depending on your policy there may be other fees. You can find out this out on the medicare site, the department of health and ageing site that is above or www.privatehealth.gov.au
Most doctors services are subsidised by medicare, this means that you will receive a portion of the bill back. This will cover normal visits to the doctor, some radiology services and bloods.
If you were to see a specialist, then it will be more benficial to have private health cover which will cover most hospital stays, elective surgery, dental, chiro etc.
Have a look at www.australia.gov.au for more info regarding our health systems. I think its pretty good.
when you arrive in australia with your permanent resident visa you can go to the Medicare office & enrol. you can then go to any doctor who "bulk bills" and pay nothing. also hospitals are free - as with anything "free" the catch is you might wait years to get into a public hospital for surgery. When you get a job, you are better off paying for private health coverage - cost about $200 per month - if you opt to stay on public - the gov't will penalize you by charging an extra tax levy.
don't expect to move to australia and be a "dole bludger" and have everything handed to you. doesn't work that way anymore.
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