Australia's healthcare system is a universal healthcare system. As long as you are a citizen or have a green card (permanent residence), you can have an Australian health insurance card - Medicare card, to enjoy universal health care. In this article, we will first talk about the situation of visiting the doctor for people with Medicare card.
In Australia, when you get sick, you usually go to a family doctor/general practitioner (GP) first, and there are usually two types of GP clinics: a free Bulk Bill and a paid one. A visit to a family doctor usually costs between AUD 80-130, with Medicare card holders being reimbursed AUD 37.5, and the rest of the money being the Gap (the portion that comes out of your own pocket.) GP clinics can be categorized as either appointment-based or walk-in clinics. It is important to have a good GP, so how do you know if the GP is good or not? In my personal opinion, I would consider the following aspects:
I. Charges: If it is a Bulk Bill free clinic, there is usually a long waiting time in the queue, even if there is a phone call to make an appointment; whereas a fee-based one is usually able to attend the clinic according to the appointment time, and even if there is a waiting time, the waiting time will not be too long. Free is a double-edged sword, very often if you just a small illness, our body has the ability to heal itself, but if it is free, you will want to go to the doctor to see, this situation is more or less a little bit of the country's free medical resources. Although the patient does not have to pay, but the clinic will go to the government to reimburse 37.5 Australian dollars for the consultation fee. On the positive side, this is very helpful for the early detection of some chronic diseases, because the patient to see a doctor without financial pressure, can go to the clinic early, early detection of problems, early intervention and treatment. For example, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc.
Two, the doctor's degree of responsibility: this before going to see a doctor, can only listen to friends or see the evaluation of the Internet, and finally to wait for you to go to see the doctor after their own feeling. Generally speaking, GP see a patient for 10 minutes, usually a visit to solve a problem, if there are multiple problems need to see, remember to remind the front desk to give you an appointment at the time of booking a long visit. The first thing you need to do is to make sure that you have the right person at your side to take care of you, and that you have the right person at your side.
Third, the doctor and your communication is smooth: see the doctor is to do consulting services, you can smooth communication with the doctor is very important. This has to be after a few visits to the experience, if you meet a doctor you are very comfortable with him to talk about the doctor, usually choose to long-term in the place to settle down, as your exclusive family doctor.
It's important to have a regular family doctor, so that your cases are kept in one place for a long time, so that every time you go to the hospital, or if something unexpected happens and you need to call up the background of your medical information, it's very convenient. Once you have found a family doctor who is compatible with you, it is generally not recommended to change doctors frequently unless you move. Or some people will go to a regular clinic, but not a regular doctor, which is fine.
After seeing a GP, if the doctor gives you labs, or blood tests, or photos, then you need to take the labs to a third party for tests. Some large GP clinics will be in the same place as the blood tests and photos, so you don't have to go to several places. But the vast majority of the time, there is a need to go to another place to have the test done. You don't need to make an appointment for blood tests, X-rays and other tests. This is one of the most uncomfortable things for many people who have just arrived from China. In China, if you are sick and go to the hospital to see a doctor, you will immediately have your blood checked in the same hospital and have your X-ray taken, and you will be able to see the results in a few hours, which is very efficient. However, this is not the case here. Generally, after visiting the doctor, you can get an appointment for a checkup on the same day if it is good, but usually you have to wait until the next day or even the third day. After the test, the report is sent directly to the doctor, and you need to make an appointment to see the doctor again to get the results.
In my work, I often come across senior anxious people who usually can't wait to find out the results as soon as the test is done. Here again, the importance of finding a good GP comes to the fore, a good GP or the clinic he works for will have a very fast results reflecting mechanism. If your test report is urgent, or the result is not good, they will immediately call you to go for follow-up, or help you contact the hospital for treatment. But there are also clinics that are just slow.
Australia is a country with a high incidence of skin cancer, and there are GPs there who do routine annual skin checks. I met a patient at work once who said that her GP practice was just half a step slow, she once she had her annual skin check with her dermatologist and a melanoma was found, and her specialist dermatologist responded very quickly and arranged for her to have a surgeon that same day, and had it surgically removed. But her GP practice contacted her about a week later to ask her to remember to get in touch with her dermatologist because her skin test report showed cancer. When she got the call she said, yeah, I know, I'm all done with the surgery. Of course, she was here inside the countryside. Like rural China, rural Australia is poorly resourced for healthcare, so even though she wasn't too happy with her GP surgery, she had to go there anyway as it was the only one in the area where she lived.
So, if you are worried after the test, it is advisable to take the initiative to call the GP clinic yourself early the next morning and ask to see if the results are back yet. Usually, the results won't be given to you right over the phone. But with any luck, you'll at least know if you need to go back to see the doctor again. After you have made an appointment to see the GP again, there are usually three scenarios, one is that the doctor will have a chat with you and tell you that the test results are normal, and that you should pay attention to adjusting your lifestyle and wait for your body to heal itself. One is that the GP prescribes you some medicines, you go to the pharmacy to buy the medicines and take them, and then see if you need a return visit. Another kind is that after several visits to the GP and no problem is solved, the GP will recommend you to see a more niche specialist. That's what I've always heard of as a Specialist.
To see a Specialist, you can go to a private clinic, or you can go to a specialist outpatient clinic in a public hospital. Either way, a referral letter from the GP is required. The former is usually quicker and charges a lot, the latter is very slow but free. Where I work is a private clinic, the fee for the first visit to a specialist usually ranges from AUD$200-400. Medicare reimburses about 120-220, which means that the patient will need to pay about 50% of the consultation fee out of pocket. The length of the first visit to a specialist is usually 30-50 minutes. Generally speaking, the wait time for private specialists is less than 1 week, but the wait time for rheumatology, allergy, and dermatology is super long. Even for private, rheumatology wait times can be as long as 3 months to 6 months. Public is even longer. The chart below is a summary table from the Victorian Health Services Information Network. The chart shows that for 90% of rheumatology referrals, the waiting time from the time the GP writes a referral letter to the time they first see a public hospital rheumatologist has fallen from over 1,100 days at the end of 2017 to over 600 days at the end of 2018, which means it's still an average wait of up to 2 years. Like in my private oncology department, we usually keep the waiting time for the first consultation at 3-7 days because of the specific condition. When it's particularly urgent, you can even see a specialist the same day you see your GP. Good private obstetricians also have super long appointment times, so if you have a particular favorite obstetrician, you basically need to call and get an appointment time when you first find out at 6 weeks pregnant.
After seeing the specialist, there are usually some tests that are ordered, blood tests, radiographs, or some other ancillary tests. All of these tests, similar to the ones you get from your GP, require you to make an appointment and then go back to the doctor for the results after you've done the tests. Generally speaking, patients can choose where to go for the checkups themselves, and they do not necessarily have to go to the place recommended by the doctor for the checkups. It is not necessary to go to the place recommended by your doctor for the checkup, because the charges of these third-party checkup organizations are different, some can be free of charge by Bulk Bill, and some charge a fee. In general, when choosing, it is recommended to consider the following three aspects:
First, the available time and place to make an appointment. Is your checkup urgent and is the time and place they offer you convenient?
Two, whether there is a fee. If there is a fee, exactly how much is charged and how much can be reimbursed, all of which can be asked when you call for an appointment.
Third, finally, it is recommended to confirm with the recommended doctor, you choose this place yourself, whether he is satisfied. Because some tests will be more niche, this doctor recommended you to go there because he understands the qualifications of that place, enough to be competent for this test. Because the ultimate goal is to get an accurate diagnosis, this indicator should outweigh the first two factors.
Then if you go to a specialized outpatient department of a public hospital, then although the wait is long, but once it's your turn, it's still very cool, the whole process is free, and all the tests are basically done in the hospital, and free of charge. Of course, you have to queue up again for the appointment time for these tests too. It just means that you're already in the process, and you'll be able to wait for your checkups faster, and not wait for months again. Sometimes you get lucky and someone who was in line to see you doesn't need it and cancels, so you may see the doctor much earlier. My son had a previous appointment for the TB vaccine clinic at Monash Public Hospital and was told there was a 4 month wait, but it turned out that we didn't have to wait 1 month before we encountered someone in front of us who had canceled and we went ahead.
Speaking up to here are talking about going to the clinic to see a doctor, so what do hospitals in Australia do? One is to provide emergency services, if your disease is urgent, or the clinic is closed, then you can go directly to the hospital emergency room. When you arrive at the emergency room, the triage nurse will assign you a waiting time based on the signs of your illness. It's not like you'll be seen first if you're yelling that you're in pain. If you have a life-threatening condition, you will definitely be seen first. So if you run to the hospital emergency room with a cold, fever, or whatever, you can wait up to 10 hours without exaggeration. The other thing is the inpatient department. If you need surgery or other treatment after being seen by your family doctor or specialist, then you need to go to the hospital. It could be a one-day treatment and go home at the end of it, or it could be something that requires an overnight stay.
Hospitals are also categorized as public or private. If it's a public hospital, the whole visit is free if you have a Medicare card, but if it's private, it depends on the private health insurance you have. Many people think that if you have private medical insurance, you don't have to pay at all when you go to a private hospital, but this is not the case. The first thing to look at is the cause of your current hospitalization, whether it is covered by the insurance you have purchased, and if it is, whether the waiting period has expired. If both are met, it also depends on whether the insurance you purchased reimburses for a single room? If the insurance you bought doesn't reimburse for a single room and you want to stay in a single room, or if the hospital only has a single room, then you'll still need to pay a portion of the room charge. In addition to the hospitalization fee, during your hospitalization, a series of fees such as doctor's visit, pathology examination or filming examination are charged separately. Some insurance policies cover all of these costs, but others only cover part of the costs. You need to be careful, firstly, read the terms and conditions clearly when you buy the insurance, and secondly, ask for more information about the charges when you are hospitalized. Of course, generally speaking, when you are hospitalized, you are also in more pain, and you may not be able to care more about the cost. So the best thing to do is still to buy as high a grade of insurance as you can afford, so that when you are hospitalized to save your mind.