Australia's medical system is a universal medical security system. As long as you are a citizen or a person with a green card (permanent residence), you can have an Australian medical insurance card-a medical insurance card and enjoy universal medical insurance. This article first talks about the medical treatment of people with medical insurance cards.
In Australia, people usually go to see a family doctor/general practitioner (GP) first after getting sick. GP clinics usually have free bulk bills or two kinds of fees. The cost of seeing a family doctor is generally between 80- 130 Australian dollars, and the holder of the medical insurance card can reimburse 37.5 Australian dollars, and the rest is the gap (the part paid by himself). General clinics can be divided into appointment system or walking system. It is important to have a good GP, so what do you think of this GP? Personally, I think it is mainly considered from the following aspects:
First, charge: if it is a free clinic with bulk bills, even if there is a telephone appointment, it usually takes a long time to queue up; The charging system can generally see a doctor according to the appointment time, even if it doesn't take long. Free is a double-edged sword. Many times, if you are only a minor illness, our body has the ability to heal itself, but if it is free, you will want to see a doctor. This situation more or less occupies the country's free medical resources. Because although patients don't have to pay, the clinic will reimburse the government for the consultation fee of 37.5 Australian dollars. On the positive side, this is very helpful for the early detection of some chronic diseases, because patients have no financial pressure to see a doctor, so they can see a doctor as soon as possible, find problems as soon as possible and intervene as soon as possible. Such as hypertension and diabetes.
Second, the doctor's degree of responsibility: before going to see a doctor, you can only listen to friends or read online comments. Finally, you have to wait until you see a doctor and feel for yourself. Generally speaking, a general practitioner sees a doctor for 10 minutes, and generally solves one problem at a time. If there are many questions to see, remember to remind the front desk to make an appointment for you when making an appointment. Of course, the charges for long-term medical treatment will be higher accordingly.
Third, is the communication between doctors and you smooth? Seeing a doctor is a consulting service, and it is very important for you to communicate with doctors smoothly. After several medical experiences, if you meet a doctor who you feel comfortable speaking, you will usually choose to settle here for a long time as your exclusive family doctor.
It is very important to have a regular family doctor. Your case will be kept in one place for a long time, so that you can call your medical information every time you go to the hospital or have an accident. After finding a family doctor who is in tune with you, it is generally not recommended to change doctors frequently unless you move. Or some people will go to a clinic regularly, but not to see a doctor, which is also possible.
After seeing GP, if the doctor gives you a test paper, or a blood test, or a photo, you need to take the test paper to a third party for examination. In some large GP clinics, blood tests and filming will be in one place, so there is no need to go to more places. But many times it is necessary to go to another place for inspection. Ordinary blood tests generally do not require an appointment. For filming, X-rays generally do not need to be reserved, and other examinations need to be reserved first. This is the most unaccustomed point for many people who have just arrived from China. Because in China, if you are sick and go to the hospital, you will immediately check your blood and take a photo in the same hospital, and you will see the results in a few hours, which is very efficient. But not here. You usually see a doctor here. If it is good, you can make an appointment for inspection on the same day, usually until the next day or even the third day. After the examination, the report results are sent directly to the doctor, and you need to make an appointment to see a doctor to get the results.
At work, we often meet some senior anxious people, who usually can't wait to know the result as soon as they finish the exam. Here, the importance of finding a good general practitioner is highlighted again. A good general practitioner or the clinic where he works will have a very fast result reflection mechanism. If your examination report is urgent or the result is not good, they will call you for a follow-up visit or help you contact the hospital for treatment. But some clinics are just slow.
Australia is a country with high incidence of skin cancer, and some GPs can do routine annual skin examination there. I once met a patient at work. She said that her general practice was only half-filmed. Once, she had an annual skin examination at a dermatologist and found a melanoma. Her dermatologist responded quickly, so she arranged for a surgeon to have the operation removed the same day. But her GP clinic didn't contact her until about a week later, reminding her to contact a dermatologist because her skin examination report showed cancer. When she got the call, she said, yes, I know, I finished the operation. Of course, she is in the countryside here. Like rural areas in China, rural medical resources in Australia are scarce, so even if she is not satisfied with her GP clinic, she has to go there because it is the only clinic where she lives.
Therefore, if you are worried after the examination, I suggest you take the initiative to call the general practitioner clinic the next morning to ask if the results have come back. Generally speaking, the test results will not be told to you by phone. But if you are lucky, you can at least know if you need a follow-up visit. After you make an appointment to see GP again, there are generally three situations. One is that the doctor chats with you after you go and tells you that the examination is normal. In the future, we should pay attention to adjusting our living habits and wait for our body to heal itself. One is that GP gives you some prescription drugs, and you go to the drugstore to buy some drugs, and then see if you need a follow-up visit. Another is that you have seen GP several times, but the problem has not been solved. GP will recommend you to see a more detailed specialist. This is an expert I often hear about.
See a specialist, which can be a private clinic or a specialist clinic in a public hospital. Either way, you need a letter of recommendation from a general practitioner. The former is usually faster and more expensive, while the latter is very slow but free. I work in a private clinic, and the first consultation fee of a specialist usually ranges from 200 to 400 Australian dollars. Medical insurance can be reimbursed 120-220, that is, patients have to pay about 50% of their own medical expenses. The duration of an expert's first consultation is generally 30-50 minutes. Generally speaking, the waiting time for private specialist appointment is within 1 week, but the waiting time for rheumatism, allergy and dermatology is extremely long. Even if it is private, the waiting time of rheumatology department may be as long as 3 months to 6 months. Public is longer. The following figure is the summary table of Victoria Health Service Information Network. As can be seen from the figure, the waiting time for 90% rheumatism patients to see a rheumatologist in a public hospital for the first time has dropped from more than 65,438+000 days at the end of 2065,438+08 to more than 600 days at the end of 2065,438+08, that is to say, it will take another two years on average. For example, in my private oncology department, because of my special condition, we usually control the waiting time for the first visit to 3 -7 days. When it is particularly urgent, you can even go to see a specialist the day after watching GP. The appointment time of a good private obstetrician is also super long. If you have a specialized obstetrician, you basically need to make an appointment by phone when you first find it in the sixth week of pregnancy.
After reading the college, I usually write some checklists, take blood tests, take photos, or other auxiliary examinations. All these examinations, similar to the checklist obtained from GP, also need to make an appointment for examination, and then go back to the doctor to see the results after the examination. Generally speaking, patients can choose where to go for examination, and they don't have to go to the place recommended by doctors. Because these third-party inspection agencies charge different fees, some can bill in batches for free, and some charge. Generally speaking, it is recommended to consider the following three aspects when choosing:
1. Time and place of appointment. Is your examination urgent? Is the time and place they provided you convenient?
Second, whether to charge. If it's a charge, how much you charge and how much you can reimburse, you can ask clearly when you call to make an appointment.
Third, finally, I suggest and recommend the doctor to confirm whether he is satisfied with the place you choose. Because some tests are small in scale, this doctor recommended you to go because he knows the qualifications of that place and is competent for this test. Because the ultimate goal is to get an accurate diagnosis, this index is greater than the first two factors.
Then, if you go to a specialist clinic in a public hospital, it's a long wait, but once it's your turn, it's still cool. The whole process is free, and all inspections are basically completed in the hospital, and it is free. Of course, these inspections are also arranged to queue up again. It just means that you have entered this process, and the inspection will be faster, and you won't wait for a few months. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you won't need people waiting in line to see a doctor before, so you may see a doctor much earlier. My son made an appointment at the tuberculosis vaccine clinic in monash public hospital, and was told that he would have to wait for 4 months. As a result, someone canceled it 1 month ago, so we went ahead of time.
So far, all we talk about is going to the clinic. So what do hospitals in Australia do? One is to provide emergency services. If your illness is urgent or the clinic is closed, you can go directly to the emergency room of the hospital. In the emergency department, the triage nurse will allocate your waiting time according to your symptoms. Doesn't mean you'll yell at yourself. Let you see it first if it hurts badly. If you have a life-threatening disease, you must be the first to see it. So if you have a cold and fever and go to the hospital for emergency treatment, you can wait 10 hour. The other is the inpatient department. If you need surgery or other treatment after seeing a family doctor or specialist, you need to go to the hospital. It may be a day's treatment, then go home, or it may be a night.
Hospitals are also divided into public and private. If you are in a public hospital and have a medical insurance card, you can see a doctor for free at any time, but if it is private, it depends on the private medical insurance you buy. Many people think that as long as they buy private medical insurance, they don't have to pay for going to private hospitals at all, but this is not the case. First of all, it depends on the reason for your hospitalization, whether it is within the insurance coverage you bought, and if so, whether the waiting period has passed. If both are satisfied, it depends on whether the insurance you buy is reimbursed by a single ward. If your insurance doesn't cover a single room, and you want to live in a single room, or the hospital only has a single room, you still need to pay part of the room fee. In addition to hospitalization expenses, during your hospitalization, a series of expenses such as doctor's consultation, pathological examination or film examination are charged separately. Some insurances are full coverage, but some insurances only reimburse part of medical expenses. This requires you to be careful. First, you should read the terms clearly when buying insurance. Second, when you are in hospital, you should ask more questions about the charges. Of course, generally speaking, when you are in hospital, it is also painful, so you may not be able to consider the cost more. So the best way is to buy high-grade insurance as much as possible within your own ability, so that you can worry when you are hospitalized.