Over the years and i was working and had to use the hospitals and doctors payment was required for any treatment and top dollar for drugs as well as take out medical insurance .
Then along came govenment medicare, where it was optional to join a fund, or use the public system , i opted for the public system and found the only difference was that the private hospitals were a lot more flash in personal care (meals --private room ---your choice of doctor etc ) but the treatment no difference at all.
Nowadays medical treatment is available free of charge in public hospitals for low income people and pensioners like myself, and the only charge for drugs which are available on govenment list is $5.30 a script.
Fair enough there is a waiting list for non emergency operations , but doctors are always available , most doctors accept a set fee that the govenment pay them , others charge a higher fee where you have to pay the difference between the two.
In my case this last week, i saw a doctor (not my own he was unavailable) last thursday at 11 am he sent me for xray at another clinic 2pm where i waited for film to be developed , then back to doctor at 2.30 pm friday for result---he just told me what was wrong gave a script gor panadole-- told me to go home and look up on the internet what it was.
Monday morning rang surgury at 9am --into my own doctor at 10 am --got the full story from him, he also rang and got permission to prescibe a drug for me thats on the health list but limited owing to the contents--- arranged for full skeleton scan at 2pm and i have the results to take back this afternoon
just can't knock this system its great and free