A few things to take into consideration before you leap here...
The population of Switzerland is only about 7.5 million and do consider the land mass. 41290 sq. KM of land locked mass... no water except for lakes. Climate differences are only due to change in altitude. Have we mentioned the cost of living there? The wages? The taxes?
The population of Australia is less dense, but 21.7 million is still 3 times as many (imagine how difficult the American's have it!), but the land mass of 7,686,850 sq. KM of nearly every climate there is to offer. The divercity of illness is far greater and much more spread out. Let's face it... the differences between the outback and the coast are far greater than the differences in altitude in Switzerland.
Adaptation is the key, but one needs to take many more factors into consideration before attempting such an overhaul... more than not the foundations not being the same can result in greater problems than one who imagine.
I live in Austria... our system has many bugs in it, but compared tot he rest of the world it is damned good. We only have 8.3 million people here and the land mass is 83858 sq. KM of, well a lot like Switerland... various altitude. The cost of living is rather high, but then again wages do reflect this cost and tax...
Long story short, everyone will receive medical services. NO ONE IS REJECTED! (If you think that's good... check out Sweden, they're even better!) The private insurances here are more that you can get a private room or that you can have cosmetic surgery and such covered in the medical plan.
On thing that is present in both the Austrian and Swiss medical systems, that being much less of the costs going to cover medical malpractice insurances. For example... if you sue for "pain and suffering" you receive a standard amount of money for this, I believe between €3000 to 8000. That's it. No lottery win. Court costs are low.
I have a list here of what I have cost the system in Austria. We receive an annual statement. Considering that I have had in the past 4 years... 3 brain opertions, a bursectomie of the right elbow, operations for a torn achilles tendon, torn calf muscle, meniscus... in addition to this about 18 MRI's, 32 CT's and over 80 blood tests... not to mention the medications and rehab (which would have been covered, but as I am a sports trainer I could save them this money)... the total cost of this whole gig was less than €100,000 for everything. All I had to pay for was €20 for medications and €8 per day that I was in the hospital (overnight) totaling €200. That's it!
There were some complication, but nothing that was really the fault of the doctors. Not every operations goes as planned. My sister who is a lawyer in the USA when to great lengths to explain what I could sue for. She meant well, but seemed to forget that the people in the hospital were doing their very best to get me healed. Estimations of pain are not something that can be empirically measured. She like many Americans view such things as a chance to "get rich quick". There was no real malpractice and the laws in Austria do not allow one to "spin it" in such a manner if there is not evidence other than a patient who has intuitively thought it to be so. This saves us millions here, perhaps this would be billions in the USA... as for Downunder I cannot really say.
(One of my beefs about "Occupy Whatever"... both sides of the issue seem to accuse the other of "greed"... I feel that a counter protest "Occupy Responsibility" would be much better and make a symbolic protest against "envy", but if this is mentioned to either side you are treated like a "SINNER"... both being the religions that they are, short sighted "blame games" with not rules except for those you make up as you go along out of convenience to your personal position... sorry... I rant!)
Small countries tend to be much easier to manage, plus we both have systems of governement that are "social democratic"... the word "social" is often confused with "socialism"; thus explaining the tea party in the USA.
Long story short... there are far more factors involved that one might care to imagine. Honestly, I'm not too sure how much in Australia goes toward covering the legal crap, but this is where things really can be cut most easily without hurting the general population.
It's not a solution, but a suggestion... one that is all too often forgotten (perhaps intentionally?).
Meow!
GREG
The population of Switzerland is only about 7.5 million and do consider the land mass. 41290 sq. KM of land locked mass... no water except for lakes. Climate differences are only due to change in altitude. Have we mentioned the cost of living there? The wages? The taxes?
The population of Australia is less dense, but 21.7 million is still 3 times as many (imagine how difficult the American's have it!), but the land mass of 7,686,850 sq. KM of nearly every climate there is to offer. The divercity of illness is far greater and much more spread out. Let's face it... the differences between the outback and the coast are far greater than the differences in altitude in Switzerland.
Adaptation is the key, but one needs to take many more factors into consideration before attempting such an overhaul... more than not the foundations not being the same can result in greater problems than one who imagine.
I live in Austria... our system has many bugs in it, but compared tot he rest of the world it is damned good. We only have 8.3 million people here and the land mass is 83858 sq. KM of, well a lot like Switerland... various altitude. The cost of living is rather high, but then again wages do reflect this cost and tax...
Long story short, everyone will receive medical services. NO ONE IS REJECTED! (If you think that's good... check out Sweden, they're even better!) The private insurances here are more that you can get a private room or that you can have cosmetic surgery and such covered in the medical plan.
On thing that is present in both the Austrian and Swiss medical systems, that being much less of the costs going to cover medical malpractice insurances. For example... if you sue for "pain and suffering" you receive a standard amount of money for this, I believe between €3000 to 8000. That's it. No lottery win. Court costs are low.
I have a list here of what I have cost the system in Austria. We receive an annual statement. Considering that I have had in the past 4 years... 3 brain opertions, a bursectomie of the right elbow, operations for a torn achilles tendon, torn calf muscle, meniscus... in addition to this about 18 MRI's, 32 CT's and over 80 blood tests... not to mention the medications and rehab (which would have been covered, but as I am a sports trainer I could save them this money)... the total cost of this whole gig was less than €100,000 for everything. All I had to pay for was €20 for medications and €8 per day that I was in the hospital (overnight) totaling €200. That's it!
There were some complication, but nothing that was really the fault of the doctors. Not every operations goes as planned. My sister who is a lawyer in the USA when to great lengths to explain what I could sue for. She meant well, but seemed to forget that the people in the hospital were doing their very best to get me healed. Estimations of pain are not something that can be empirically measured. She like many Americans view such things as a chance to "get rich quick". There was no real malpractice and the laws in Austria do not allow one to "spin it" in such a manner if there is not evidence other than a patient who has intuitively thought it to be so. This saves us millions here, perhaps this would be billions in the USA... as for Downunder I cannot really say.
(One of my beefs about "Occupy Whatever"... both sides of the issue seem to accuse the other of "greed"... I feel that a counter protest "Occupy Responsibility" would be much better and make a symbolic protest against "envy", but if this is mentioned to either side you are treated like a "SINNER"... both being the religions that they are, short sighted "blame games" with not rules except for those you make up as you go along out of convenience to your personal position... sorry... I rant!)
Small countries tend to be much easier to manage, plus we both have systems of governement that are "social democratic"... the word "social" is often confused with "socialism"; thus explaining the tea party in the USA.
Long story short... there are far more factors involved that one might care to imagine. Honestly, I'm not too sure how much in Australia goes toward covering the legal crap, but this is where things really can be cut most easily without hurting the general population.
It's not a solution, but a suggestion... one that is all too often forgotten (perhaps intentionally?).
Meow!
GREG
Moral is as moral does and as moral wishes it all too be. - MoS
The absence of all empirical evidence for the necessity of intuitive X existing is evidence against the necessary empirical existence of intuitive X - MoS (variation of 180proof)
Athesim is not a system of belief, but rather a single answer to a single question. It is the designation applied by theists to those who do not share their assumption that a god/deity exists. - MoS
I am not one to attribute godlike qualities to things that I am unable to understand. I may never be in the position to understand certain things, but I am not about to create an anthropomorphic deity out of my short-commings. I wish not to errect a monument to my own personal ignorace and demand that others worship this proxy of ego. - MoS
The absence of all empirical evidence for the necessity of intuitive X existing is evidence against the necessary empirical existence of intuitive X - MoS (variation of 180proof)
Athesim is not a system of belief, but rather a single answer to a single question. It is the designation applied by theists to those who do not share their assumption that a god/deity exists. - MoS
I am not one to attribute godlike qualities to things that I am unable to understand. I may never be in the position to understand certain things, but I am not about to create an anthropomorphic deity out of my short-commings. I wish not to errect a monument to my own personal ignorace and demand that others worship this proxy of ego. - MoS
