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Comment by grecy | Hacker News Reader

A few years ago my brother broke his leg horribly. The Ambulance drivers said it was the worst break they had ever seen.

Multiple surgeries, months in hospital, rehab, got addicted to morphine in the process etc. etc.

At the end of it all was a handshake and "get well soon".

There was no bill.

Australia.

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I grew up in England. Same deal. In and out, no bill.

The Americans who decry "socialist" medicine have never used it. There has to be a way to divorce health care and profit. English, Aussie, and Kiwi doctors all make about the same pay as American doctors, but they work in a non-profit system. Go figure...

Americans are largely opposed to a system where there is no profit. The Americans are the Ferengi of medicine, this much is certain.

American doctors make 6 figures $/year, sometimes serious figures (like $400k/year).

UK doctors don’t make near that much money.

Is this the average doctor or some specialist? The fact that some specialists can hugely profit from the system the same way the hospitals, pharma companies and insurance do, is likely port of the point of the previous comment. The important takeway is the average doctor does likely also not see much of that overhead money that goes to the pockets of a couple individuals and already rich companies.

My father developed Parkinson's a few years back. Got referred to a specialist by his GP - it turned out to be the most senior specialist in the country. Waited a few days for the appointment, never saw a bill. In New Zealand.

I broke my hand when I was a kid. The fragment of a bone was near a tendon and private doctors didn't have absolute consensus on surgery or not surgery for my case.

A friend of my mothers worked in the ministry of public health. She got me an appointment to one of the most important hand doctors in the country. I went there and skipped a line of 100 people wanting to see him. He took a glance at my X-Ray and said there should be surgery with general anesthesia to prevent any damage to the tendon.

There was also no bill.

I worry that this is path dependent. Recently, I went to a talk by a guy from New Zealand with an expensively manageable disability. I asked him what it would take to get the NZ accident compensation scheme to happen in Australia. The answer was, "Start funding it 30 years ago. It's great, but there is no way that NZ could afford it today."

It's a bit scary how much Australians owe to Neal Blewett.

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