This came up as I was chatting with my sister-in-law who is a pharmacist in one of the big pharmacy chains. She has a new patient from the UK who flies to Australia after the lockdown ended to get his regular anti-cancer meds, which apparently cost the Australian government (and taxpayers) tens of thousands every few months. This bloke isn't a dual Australian citizen or has ties to Australia, but apparently can get subsidised cancer meds for next to nothing despite not paying any taxes in Australia in his life. He says the reason is he makes these round trips down under a few times a year is because those anti-cancer meds are neither cheap nor funded under the NHS, which is the UK's version of Medicare (hence saving himself "quite a few quids" in his own words).
Now my sister-in-law doesn't mind her UK patient because she get's paid by Medicare regardless for dispensing those meds and he's a pleasant chatty chap to deal with who doesn't complain about the long wait times to order in his cancer meds, but it does struck me how we are essentially paying for non-citizens healthcare even though the UK is a developed country in its own right with its own free healthcare.
Apparently the British chap said the Australian healthcare system is much better funded than the NHS, which is also is why hundreds of UK doctors and nurses are migrating en masse to Australia for better pay and work-life balance every year (needs to be fact checked though). Not being from the UK myself I looked it up and we have Reciprocal Health Care Agreements for 11 countries, all of which are first world countries (United Kingdom, New Zealand, Republic of Ireland, Sweden, The Netherlands, Finland, Belgium, Norway, Slovenia, Malta and Italy).
https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/reciprocal-health-care-…
This doesn't sound too bad but then I read the news now with rising inflation and costs of livings, everyday Australians are not being able to afford even a $30-40 routine GP visit these days. I wonder if we should stop paying for healthcare of non-Australian citizens/residents and spend those saved on Aussies instead? Or at least restrict it to cheap generics medications instead of specialised drugs costing thousands of dollars, as these non-Aussies doesn't have any ties to Australia or pay taxes here.
I can't find any data on how much Australia spends on the healthcare of non-citizens through such Reciprocal Health Care Agreements , but I suspect we are not getting too much back in the way of fellow Aussies utilising their poorer-funded foreign Medicare counterparts (I think Norway is perhaps the only country with an equally well-funded healthcare system like Australia.)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-21/medicare-rebates-not-…
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-21/tas-gp-bulk-billing-d…
Yay or nay to continue spending millions (or perhaps hundreds of millions?) on non-taxpaying foreigners' healthcare while some Australians potentially miss out on essential healthcare/GP appointments? Thoughtful comments are always welcome.
If it's to save someones life or help them in anyway medically, I do not mind this practice.