Health & Family Hospitals, Surgery & Healthcare

We read a lot in the media of the cost of health care in the US or in holiday destinations and may think that it's expensive which is why we are advised to take out travel insurance.

I had the pleasure of a recent visit to hospital in Aus and am now seeing the tail end of the bills.

Don't think that hospital care is any cheaper here. I'm glad that I could have a private hospital, choice of surgeon/specialist etc without waiting in the public system.

I was dumbfounded by the total cost of the treatment as it would come close to the school fees for a top tier private school for a year.

 

Can't vote as we have top hospital cover only. Given our age it is the only way we can get full cover for joint replacement.

Hubby recently had emergency day surgery for a detached retina. Two specialists, private eye clinic, one month specialist aftercare. I reckon we are under $1500 out of pocket after private health rebates and Medicare (and car parking!). All happened within 24 hours if his initial phone call direct to his opthamologist. Not complaining.

Biggest out of pocket was the anaesthetist. Any doctors out there should aim for that specialty.
Marg

 

So you have private care and got bit by the gap. Happens all the time but sometimes that's the price you pay for jumping the queues in the public system.

e.g.

Public System : wife's friend needed knee surgery, she had to wait 6 months after consult for some random at the local hospital to do the job and it cost her nothing.

Private cover : my wife required the same surgery, rocked up for a consult and got the Prof who teaches all the others how to do it! His response was.. " so are you free next Thursday ?" Private room in private hospital for 2 days, our all up gap cost.. $,1500 Cover also ponied up for the physio after.

OS War story..

Was in LA for a conference and an associate got conjunctivitis, his visit to the local doc + meds cost him $6,000 US !!!!!

I don't think we charge tourists like that in Oz - hope not anyway.

Also... not all Private cover is created equal - you can end up not covered for things you actually need if not careful.

 

We've just got top hospital cover no "fancy extras" i think optical dental is standard now. Wife had her hip re-built and the cover came in quite handy, although there was still a 12k or so bill at the end!

You need good private cover so you can fit in with the Dr's golf games otherwise you'll be waiting ages!! (Now to wait and reel them in)

 

Yeah right...

 

Not happy that our public hospitals are being privatalised

 

Depends on your fund.
NIB seems the worst imo

 

Hook line and golf pro!

Personally i don't know how Dr's fit in so much golf being on call

 

I'm not even sure where my golf clubs are now that you mention it.

 

@Bran Could you fit them into your car if you wanted to play?

 

Yeah that's the caddy's job

 

I got a new truck (and no, it didn't replace a Porsche - sorta )

 

At the moment I'm covered by my son is not. I find it infuriating that as a single parent the premium for 1 adult and 1 child would be about $20 per month less than for a family of 5 or 6 or 7 or more. This is yet another way that single parent families are slugged with additional costs, some of which are obviously our choice - housing & all the associated costs for example. When I question it they have the hide to celebrate that they have a single family premium now. Really??? I just cannot justify upgrading my membership to include him, we are $'000s in front by not but I do worry that if something happened to him I may not have the choices PHI would give us.

 

What a frigging mess.

Had an op to remove a large portion of my prostate. Surgery went well, all good and discharged after a couple of nights stay.

Less than two days after I went into retention in the evening and attended the Emergency Department. They had extreme difficulty draining with a catheter but eventually extracted some blood clots (it can happen) but still had troubles. Finally admitted under a Urologist, who was most unhappy and the catheter had been poorly positioned In ED. Took less than 10 minutes for him to fix it.

Unfortunately, the bladder has been abused, traumatised and inflamed so I was discharged the next day with instructions to contact the specialist who did the op. NOW, because the catheter was originally poorly positioned, that specialist wants to allow everything to settle down so I have to have the blasted thing in for a week.

It's only a few days of inconvenience but, boy, am I one cranky SK!

 

Have HCF cover with basic extras, been in hospital 3 times last 18 months, including a mild heart attack, only ever had to pay my upfront fee of $500. Had Newcastle's top heart specialist ...

 

Top hospital, no extras here too. I've just come home after a week in hospital proper, then a week in rehab. $500 excess + $500 anaesthetist + gap payments for CT scans before being admitted. Medibank dodged a bullet: I switched from them to BUPA last year after claiming next to nothing, and now BUPA have picked up a bill in the tens of thousands (this was a repeat op, no reflection on surgeon: 20% failure rate is the norm for my op). But I guess that's how insurance works.