by Caitlin Kenney

Peter writes:

Watching the US health care debate from a distance, with the context of the Australian system on my mind, one question keeps coming up: why does it cost so much more in the USA?

The pharmaceutical benefit scheme (PBS) ensures that no matter how much a particular medication costs, the most I will pay is $33-$35/month. The PBS is set up around the very idea that the patient shouldn't have an interest in the cost of a medication. If the most appropriate medication costs twice as much as something that will kind of do the job, the government will cover the difference.

Medicare, which covers all Australians, will pay doctors for each consultation. This is a little misleading as the scheduled fees set by the government are generally low, so usually an out of pocket expense is incurred. There are doctors who charge only the scheduled amount (bulk bill) but these generally feel like a McDonald's drive through, with each appointment lasting 5-7 minutes. I prefer to have 15 -20 minutes set aside for the appointment, so I pay an extra $22.

 

I've seen footage of people complaining (often quite loudly) that the USA is about to become some kind of socialist, commy, pinko nightmare. My only experience is socialized medicine and it works very well in Australia. If it weren't for the medication I could keep my out of pocket expenses at nil, but I've chosen to pay more for some services and make use of the private system if I ever need to go to hospital.

These are my costs:

Consultations:
GP (5-6 visits yr): $22 (govt pays additional $33)
Specialist (1 visit/yr): $0 (govt pays additional $60ish) — bulk billed
(GP costs can change in my case. Frequently, if I only need a new script the GP will bulk bill because it only takes three minutes.My specialist now charges an out of pocket expense for new patients, as a long term patient I've been grandfathered.)

Private Health Insurance (hospital cover): $65/month (govt pays additional $27)

Average cost: $1061/year