Morning all,
I went to my doc last week as I have had some abdominal pains and wanted it checked, the practice no longer bulk bills so I paid the $30 Gap fee.
He recommended a CT scan (Bulk Billed) which I did.
Now to get my results I have a Telehealth appointment with the Dr this afternoon, on the confirmation text I received yesterday it mentioned that there is another $30 Gap Fee for the appointment.
Does this seem fair?
Genuinely interested in others thoughts here.
This is one of the ways GP is taking advantage of govt funds. This rorting and other similar examples should be put to a stop. It does not need a rocket scientist to interpreted results.
It does not need a rocket scientist to interpreted results.
I wouldn't go this far - especially for abnormal or borderline results. A doctor is trained for these scenarios. Imagine giving a patient a cancer diagnosis via a paper results form.
My original comment is limited to "normal" results which don't need much interpretation.
Get a Tesla. The gaps are free…..
Yes! People think Telsa are some high-end car but they really arent! Their coachwork is very shoddy!!
Fremont made ones are made from "Western" people. China has other issues, Chinese made cars might have paint match issues.
So Buy Volkswagen, the air is just too clean for a Tesla!
Where do the batteries for Tesla come from ?
You do realise that over half the emissions for a car dont come from the driving they come from the manufacturing and delivery of the car.
Batteries the metal and plastics for the car dont grow on trees…
@CowFrogHorse: OMG, the lefties from the Murdoch sewage outlets have brainwashed you? Maybe Panasonic, former arch enemy Japan that was going to swallow up Australia? Maybe a bimmer that originated from a factory initially just building engines for a war effort.
Get a leaded old timer. Led is the best for people who had given up thinking. The US polluted, Volkswagen took the blame?
@payless69: No.
Its a fact.
ALL cars have considerable amounts of metal and those metals come from mines. Considerable OIL is required to work everything in a mine and the manufacturing of the metal.
Metal doesnt jmp from rocks into a perfectly shaped car, or other peice.
Im just saying a basic truth, EV cars are NOT green, just like ICE cars are not GREEN.
So stop lying and pretending that EV cars including the batteries and metal frame etc grow on trees and doesnt cost any OIL.
@payless69: Did i mention Japan ? NO
Did i say ICE cars dont pollute: NO
All i said is a basic fact, anything that requires considerable amounts of raw materials such a metal and lithium come from a MINE.
A large cost of the batteries and metals are the cost of the energy to BUY the OIL to run the mine.
Do yo know why GOLD costs a lot of money ? BECAUSE it costs a lot of energy aka OIL to move and process all those rocks. The same is true for the metals for a car, and the same is true for a EV CAR BATTERY.
An EV CAR BATTERY costs a lot because it costsa a lot of energy aka OIL to run those mines.
My experience with getting test results is that they don't bother with an appointment if everything looks fine but would charge for a follow up if they needed to discuss the results with me, so the fee seems fine if that's the case. But I would be pretty miffed if I paid the fee and they said 'it's all good, cheers for coming in'.
Always have a few 'backup' health issue to ask about in that case. :D
I think that by OP asking this, it is indicative that there are a lot of people in this country with little knowledge about what is actually going on.
GPs have been openly campaigning about the freeze on the government Medicare rebates for a number of years.
GPs have been absorbing higher costs while not passing those on to a lot of their patients, effectively reducing their income.
Unfortunately that is where we are just now, and it was heading for worse under the LNP government. At least with the adults now in charge there is a bit of hope.
OMG it was the Turnbull and Morrison duo that has actually created all them social misfits. Thanks for admitting that the Murdoch sewage has worked well.
Please donate to our Gerry as they do pay bribes to anyone negging their affiliate business model…..
I read it and don't understand it.
It's fair. The parameters of it suggest this is more than a "positive/negative" test outcome discussion.
Ultimately, though, you need to be comfortable with the overall service provided by your doctor. The actual answer to whether it is reasonable (as slightly distinct from fair) will come from the quality of conversation you have with your doctor this afternoon.
This is why My Health Record should be more widely used, since you could see the results yourself.
All the big pathology providers will upload to MyHR by default. The GP needs to tick the "do not upload" checkbox on the pathology request. However, diagnostic and pathology reports are locked for 7 days in MyHR to give your healthcare provider the time to look at and discuss the results with you.
and discuss the results with you
And charge you for the privilege!
Myhealthrecord has the potential to be so good, yet in my experience, at least in Sydney, uptake is quite poor. Probably as a result of all the fearmongering when it first came out
I didn't know that.
Is there any analysis of the test results, or just the raw results?
Depends on the test. A blood count is usually just raw numbers, but an X-ray is always reviewed by a radiologist so has a report attached.
Having said that, I've never been able to see a raw X-ray image or MRI image/video on MHR, only the results and reports.
I've also seen results that were previously recorded on MHR disappear without cause or warning - despite being only a couple of months old - and I still haven't figured out why that happened.
Something like an MRI or X-ray will have the raw images available through I-MED that the doctors access and then the report is sent electronically into their clinical software later. I've looked up my own scans through I-MED before and it really gives you greater detail. A shame it's not always included in the report.
@Clear: IMED has been promising this feature for years, so glad it's finally available.
Hopefully all the other diagnostics networks have this feature as well
@Switchblade88: I should clarify I have an I-MED account as I work in healthcare and not as a patient. This is what you're thinking of. Not completely nationwide as I-MED operate different in some states like VIC and TAS.
@Clear: Not having a go, just genuinely asking, is it ethical or even against policy to use your account that you have as part of your job for personal reasons?
In the past on IT systems in large customer service organisations I have worked with, there's all kinds of restrictions around not looking at your own account and or 'celebrity' accounts as they would be flagged for review. A bit different in this instance because it was protecting others privacy or making sure you don't give yourself discounts but feels similar.
For the record I think the results information should be available, but also understand that most people would not be able to properly interpret it and build a plan in what to do next so see why the current processes exist
@Clear: I-MED allows you to see CTs online now as a patient. At least here in VIC. It is awesome as it is fully interactive where you can go through all the layers and it even allows you to measure stuff just like the radiologists do
No even to tell what happened on the test you need to pay for consultation session.
It isn't generally a good idea to interpret the results yourself. This can lead to Dr Google searches and cause people significant distress.
Better the option is available.
I've also had plenty of doctors read results and say 'yeah, you're fine, nothing is wrong' and then a specialist say 'This should have been picked up way earlier, it was in these tests already'. So a GP interpretation is not always viable insurance against 'significant distress' nor false outcomes.
Doctor Google is free tho. Plus often more informative and better bedside manners. Plus he/she seems to listen properly to what I'm explaining too.
Dr Google's starting assessment is typically cancer, so private oncologists would probably love this and getting bonus cash for initial consults on people who don't have it.
Are you saying that reading radiopaedia doesn't make you as good as a FRANZCR?
To charge double for test results is a joke IMO and there must be a better way.
Take a look around you, there are really only 2 services that are popping up everywhere despite these times and they are medical facilities and child care centres. Doctors are nothing more than slimy used car salesmen pushing their limited knowledge on you as face (in the main) To actually find a decent intelligent Doctor is like almost impossible.
The old days of doctors caring are long gone. Now most of them are 3rd rate hacks who just want to take yours, medicares and their sponsors money. Half of the centers are corrupt financially i bet.. if not more, rorting and now price gouging.. GOD BLESS AUSTRALIA
A lot of GPs claim there's not a whole lot of money in their speciality, so there's also that.
So then why are so many opening up new centres with multiple services they can refer to eachother like little scamming leeches? Its happening Crying poor and actually being poor are two different things and i cant see any of these almost corporation like medical centres/other being poor at all. The whole industry has become a money go round served by 3rd rate hacks in amongst a few good people.
International doctors, who do their time here and then become aus certified GPs.
I think businesses open up the new centres and the doctors are employees.
It's because the road to becoming a Medical doctor is locked behind gate keeping. First by purely academic results and the second by a closed circle of specialists.
What type of person do you think this invites? Certainly not those who want to improve their community.
Why would you think that someone with high academic results would automatically not want to improve their community?
Anyone who got the marks to get into medical school would've equally gotten into law, banking etc, and yet compared to fields like IB make significantly less but I would argue benefit greater society much more.
You can get lucky and find caring GPs but they are the ones that charge large gap fees. Bulk billed medicine is cheap and nasty, made in China quality.
My actualy Doctor is very good and still bulk bills me even though the whole practise is now not. Its almost impossible to see her these days though and to counter that i just book appointments via hot doc at 2 week intervals as soon as they become available. Ill just cancel them if we dont need them.
booking appointments that you don't actually need literally contribuites to that problem. that's an awful idea.
@jfletch2: And????? I need to see the doctor regularly and if I can't do what I used to do which was walk in and wait I would do whatever it takes because if I don't nothing will change anyway
This new system that is creeping into place seems to want you to guess when you'll have to see a doctor in the future so that's exactly what I am doing
Don't blame me… I voted for kodos
GPs are not poorly educated. They have much more training than you are implying.
The system has trained them to work as fast as possible and that is now ingrained in poor work practices. When GPs miss things, it's not because they are ignorant, they have missed things they would have picked up if they spent more time with the patient.
Well thats ok then! Phew.. there was me thinking they were just not that bright as i watch them googling my symptoms but now i know they have not got the time to do the job they are paid to do properly.. I feel so much better… Im off to the Doctors now.. they might work out 50% of whats wrong with me before they run out of time.. GOD BLESS AUSTRALIA
Most of these Short consults contribute to this.
Cheaper but result is hurried care, unless someone just wants a Script.
@holdenmg: So its not "care" then is it.. its just money a money grab with a substandard service? You do not go to the Doctors to half find out whats wrong or have them miss stuff so they can get their next $50 medicare paycheque
I am actually going through a situation right now which has shown me just how stuffed up this whole system is. Not going into details but something was missed by some have idiot that has now developed into something much worse when it could possibly have ben nipped in the bud.
" Come back and see me in 2 days and take some paracetamol" didnt work for me.. it only worked for the con artist doctor who double dipped with the uneccasary 2nd appointment because they ddid nothing in the 1st
@Motek Benzona: Sorry to hear that.
Doctors are not infallible. It is possible this could have even happened with a longer consult.
Of course, the patient will get the blame if self-interpreting or not representing for follow-up or further test or booking too short a consult.
Maybe a possible solution is for the Government to supplement low-income patients so this Gap isn't a chasm.
@holdenmg: Its not just Doctors… had to go to emergency it was so bad. I though i was dying. Arrived at 4pm, 7 hours later i heard nurses talking to a Doctor "Oh we will wait for his painkillers to work then he goes home. If he wants any tests done he has to come back with a referral from his doctor"
I then called in the Doctor and said "were you just talking about me?" and she said yes
I asked them to confirm
1: They were sending me home with a painkiller inside me despite me telling them i had stronger ones at home that didnt work
2: They were going to do no tests whatsoever and if i actually wanted tests i had to get a referral from my Doctor to come back
The doctor apologised and said yes, when i asked why they did not do any tests now i am here very ill rather than send me back for a referral to a Doctor i could not see for 2 weeks she just looked at me. I almost ripped the canula out of my arm as i walked out.
The whole system is a scam to leech money from people.
This is the problem with the decentralised healthcare system in Australia.
Think about it.
You need to first go to a GP, who is NOT a specialist in the field of medicine relevant to your health problem. He/she gets paid to write you a referral to an imaging/haematology clinic.
It costs money and time to travel to and from the imaging/haematology clinic, plus you must pay the clinic for their service.
Then you need to go back to the GP, and pay him/her again to read the results and write you a referral to a specialist.
Then you must wait (usually) weeks to see the specialist. Then you need to pay the specialist (usually several hundred dollars, possibly even $400) for a 20-min consultation. In many cases the specialist will order more tests, but again they will be conducted an an external clinic. So you need to book and wait, then travel to the clinic, pay clinic, then back to the specialist. Pay specialist more for 2nd consultation.
Etc. etc.
It’s absolutely absurd and irrational.
In places like Japan, everything gets done in the one hospital. There are no GPs, there are only specialists. You go DIRECTLY to the specialist without wasting time. Tests are done on the day, in the same hospital. Results come back on the same day. In many cases, you will even receive treatment/advice on the same day. And you will be given one bill. It will be a small fraction of your total out-of-pocket expenses in Australia.
100%. And it's so frustrating to go through that process, especially when the specialists tell you they are not taking new patients.
What specialist do you think OP should go to?
To cut out the GP as you suggest…
Remember he doesn't have a CT diagnosis yet, just abdominal pains.
Where are you going to send him?
OP has 'abdominal pains' so why refer to a 'haematology clinic' and potentially scare the crap out of them?
Your view is similar to saying that patients shouldn't waste their time seeing an emergency physician, they should simply see the orthopaedic surgeon for when they fracture their hip, the vascular surgeon for when they rupture their aorta, or the anaesthetist for when they have angioedema and can no longer breathe.
A key role of GPs is to diagnose a problem from a bunch of presenting complaints. It's not always obvious which speciality this is going to be, and very often patients will have a bunch of conditions managed by different specialists that need someone to coordinate things and see the patient as a whole, rather than their individual specialty areas.
Which specialist does the mother of 4 with post-partum fatigue, lethargy, low mood, and leg swelling see?
Which specialist does the 80 with recurrent abdominal pain who has SMA syndrome, recurrent chronic pancreatitis, uterine fibroids, and gall stones see when they have yet another flare of their abdominal pain?
What about the suicidal schizophrenic drug addict who is suffering from domestic abuse?
Do we really need to clog up dermatologists waiting lists with simple cases of atopic dermatitis? Or paediatricians with the millionth well child with a fever for the day?
Most daily presenting complaints don't need to see an emergency department nor a specialist.
They need to see someone with specialist training in general medicine, with a broad range of knowledge and experience in whatever could walk through the door - paediatrics, gynaecology, psychiatry, dermatology, and internal medicine.
Almost like there should be a recognised specialty in medicine just for that…
The Australian system isn't perfect, but it's better than most.
The Australian system isn't perfect, but it's better than most.
Rubbish, you are taking a one-sided view of this, and you obviously haven' t considered the benefits of a centralised healthcare system.
Did you devote even one second of your thought to the time and money wasted booking and travelling back and forth between GP clinics, imaging centres, specialist clinics, hospitals, etc.?
It's not rocket science to figure out which specialist to send a patient to. In centralised healthcare systems, there is obviously a system in place for doing this.
And HAVING ALL THE SPECIALISTS IN THE ONE LOCATION means it's not a big deal if the patient sees the wrong specialist or if they need to see more than one specialist.
And HAVING ALL THE IMAGING AND DIAGNOSTIC EQUIPMENT IN THE SAME LOCATION means they can get their diagnosis on the same day that they see the specialist, i.e. the day that they present with a problem and go to the hospital.
Which specialist does the mother of 4 with post-partum fatigue, lethargy, low mood, and leg swelling see?
An obstetrician. They are experienced with dealing with common issues like this, and can direct the patient to another specialist (probably just down the corridor, or 2 floors down) if needed.
Do we really need to clog up dermatologists waiting lists with simple cases of atopic dermatitis?
Yes. If it's a simple case, it won't waste more than 5 mins of the dermatologist's time.
Don't forget, a healthcare system with no GPs has more specialists. There are around 40,000 GPs in Australia.
In my experience, GPs are not very reliable at diagnosing diseases accurately. I read a study of the Australian healthcare system, which found the GP mistake rate was high, and their accuracy at diagnosing disorders was fairly low. Can't remember the exact figures. Furthermore, there is great variability in quality of GP.
What about the suicidal schizophrenic drug addict who is suffering from domestic abuse?
Drug addiction specialist (there are doctors who actually specialise in treating drug addiction). Addiction psychologist/psychiatrist. Social worker. Police.
Which specialist does the 80 with recurrent abdominal pain who has SMA syndrome, recurrent chronic pancreatitis, uterine fibroids, and gall stones see when they have yet another flare of their abdominal pain?
A bunch of specialists, but most importantly, a cardiologist/cardiovascular surgeon, gastroenterologist, and gynaecologist. Having all these specialists in one place will make it very convenient. Having to travel back and forth across a busy city for weeks will obviously not speed up the diagnosis. It's possible they have aortic aneurysm, which could burst and kill them within minutes, or a pancreatic cancer. A GP most certainly can't diagnose these things, and they will need a CT scan.
Lol absolute rubbish because if there are no GPs, then all the non-GP specialists will end up seeing all the patients with undifferentiated symptoms and waiting times to receive specialist treatment/surgery will blow up anyway.
If you think every patient presents with textbook symptoms, it simply shows you've never worked in primary health care.
I agree that in an ideal world, having a centralised hub where every specialty is easily accessible would be great to have. In fact, we already have these in some fashion with public hospital out patient clinics but waiting lists for these are already astronomical.
Take the GP out of the equation, send them to these clinics and you'll maybe see someone in 5 years.
@ForkSnorter: Lol mate, theorising? I'm a GP. I've worked in the hospital system as well for many years. I have colleagues who are specialists in these hospital networks. Believe me, they do not want to see nor have the time to see the undifferentiated bread and butter patients that primary care have to deal with.
Sure it works in Japan. But the reality is, we are Australia and our system is a whole different kettle of fish. Take away GPs and the whole health system will fall.
@chongsu: Yeah, our system is to waste weeks of time and heaps of money before we can see someone who really knows what they're talking about. Furthermore, with 4 times as much administration required (GPs, diagnostic clinics, specialist clinics, hospitals), the expenses really add up.
The reality is that the Japanese system involves a dedicated clinician with years of experience referring patients to the correct specialist. Except, you don't have to book, wait, pay separately, or visit a separate location from the specialists/diagnostic clinics.
You just turn up at the hospital, have a quick chat with the clinician, who refers you to the appropriate specialist. It takes a matter of minutes, and then you're off to see the specialist in the same building.
The reality is that the Japanese system involves a dedicated clinician with years of experience
So basically a GP?
@Ughhh: No, they don't diagnose, nor treat the patient, nor write prescriptions for medicine. They use their extensive experience to determine which of the many specialists in the hospital should see the patient.
Do you ever service your car? Check the oil? Or just keep driving until it breaks down? Preventative maintenance right?
Now consider preventative health and reformulate your opinion about the necessity of GPs.
A bunch of specialists, but most importantly, a cardiologist/cardiovascular surgeon, gastroenterologist, and gynaecologist. Having all these specialists in one place will make it very convenient. Having to travel back and forth across a busy city for weeks will obviously not speed up the diagnosis. It's possible they have aortic aneurysm, which could burst and kill them within minutes, or a pancreatic cancer. A GP most certainly can't diagnose these things, and they will need a CT scan.
And who will co-ordinate their care? Physicians and surgeons look after body parts. GPs look after the human.
And who will co-ordinate their care? Physicians and surgeons look after body parts. GPs look after the human.
It's my experience that, in many cases, the Australian GP system absolves medical professionals of ultimate responsibility for providing definitive diagnosis and treatment.
The GP's excuse is that they are not a specialist, and they have done their job, which is to provide referral to a specialist.
The specialist's excuse is that they are not the patient's personal doctor, and they have done their job, which is to conduct the tests/treatments that fall within their jurisdiction.
In cases where the patient's disorder is not immediately obvious, the specialist has little incentive to dig further or perform problem-solving, to provide a definitive diagnosis. So, basically they either send the patient back to the GP, or refer them to another specialist, or hope that the problem will resolve itself. So, it results in a merry-go-round, where no-one is prepared to put the hard yards in and solve the patient's health problem.
In Japan, when you see a specialist, and your problem affects a body part that they specialise in, they accept responsibility to keep digging, keep working, until they can provide you with a definitive diagnosis and treatment. They also accept you as a lifelong patient, and as you age, they will continue to monitor you and provide preventative treatments and examinations for common illnesses that tend to occur in old age.
It is very frustrating indeed. Japanese system sounds quite good and efficient.
You need someone to look after you as a holistic human being, co-ordinate care, manage your multiple medical problems and preventative health, especially as you grow older and start to collect things on your past medical history.
GP is the specialty of family mediicne
Hypothetically, you have increasing fatigue - who are you going to see if not a GP specialist?
An endocrinologist? What if it’s cardiac failure? Or asthma? Or depression? Or coeliac disease? Or iron deficiency? Guess you’ll see 6 different specialists before finding out it’s none of these and you have MS and need to see a neurologist. So 1 GP has been replaced by 6 specialists not trained in neurology since medical school. And Japan doesn’t magically get tests that take 3 days for results (eg bacterial cultures) back on the same day. Stop pretending you understand either system and go back to r/japancirclejerk
I would say the hospital departments in Japan are structured to avoid/minimise such problems.
For example, there is a department called "Internal Medicine”, which is defined as follow: “They specialize in preventing, finding and treating illness in adults. Patients in Japan choose Internal Medicine as their primary doctor for regular checkups and for treating illness.”
This is the obvious choice for a mystery illness like fatigue.
But, don’t forget, when you enter the hospital, you have a quick chat with a clinician with years of experience helping patients choose the correct specialist to see.
Hi, Japan sounds great. I don't think they take Medicare. lol
Do you know if the Population v Number of Doctors/Specialists Ratio in Japan is Higher than Australia?
So you want to see someone who specialises in preventing, finding and treating illnesses. Got it. Australia is a pretty large country for everyone to go to a hospital, so we should have clinics set up across the country to cater for this. They’ll be specialised in preventing, finding and treating illness in both adults, children and pregnant women. Perhaps we call them General Practitioners?
@Milkywayss: I think you missed my original point, where an enormous amount of time and money is wasted by keeping GPs, diagnostic clinics, specialists, and hospitals all in entirely different locations, with entirely different administration and entirely separate fees, and with specialists protected by this system so that it can sometimes take weeks to see a specialist who really understands your condition, whereas in Japan, you really do have the opportunity to see a specialist on the day you show up at the hospital. Speaking from experience.
I know it feels good to assume that something that's different could not be as good as what you're used to, but that's the world we live in. Everything can be improved.
@ForkSnorter: So you want to replace rural GP’s who currently are the specialists who run rural hospitals, with subspecialised internal medicine doctors for adults, paediatricians for kids, and O&G specialists for obs gynae issues, then also have every rural hospital also have every other specialty, when currently entire states at times don’t have a single specialist for a certain area?
What does a farmer who lives 8 hours drive from a hospital do for a sore ankle? Guess that means drive 8 hours to wait at a hospital to see an orthopaedic surgeon? Again, it might work in a hugely populated small country, but WA, NT or QLD??
@Milkywayss: The overwhelming majority of the Australian population lives in large cities. There is nothing wrong with having a different system in rural areas.
Obviously the Japanese system isn’t perfect, but there are things we can learn from it. I just think the Australian system has gone too far with its decentralisation.
@ForkSnorter: Ok I can see in Melbourne and Sydney there’s a potential role for it. Maybe that’s the current government plan with reducing GP funding, and medical student interest in GP at an all time low, that this will hopefully lead to more sub-specialisation to allow for such a model. Would need a huge increase in the number of these consultants though
Sounds like general medicine…. perhaps General practice?
Just think of it this way if you were a doctor would you be doing the same thing?
If he does it once you would expect it all the time (free consultation)
Doctors see many patients throughout the day they are not your mates, if they make a mistake the shit hits the fan.
They have to pay insurance pay staff general bills probably have some sort of life outside of work, I would not think that most doctors go into the job just to make money!
Actually, the OP makes a valid point.
If we have this shortage of GPs that we're told we have, surely one way to decrease the load on them and to reduce delays to getting an appointments would be for people who've had tests that return a "nil" result - you don't have a problem - to be told directly by the company doing the test. You can always make an appointment if you want to talk to the GP about what else might need investigating, and you'd be doing that aware of what the previous test result was, and prepared.
It would make the system work more efficiently. GPs would still have all their appointment slots filled and so generate the same income, but the delay to get an appointment to see one would be reduced.
GPs aren't the only shortage. Pathology have real big shortages and many labs often have trouble getting enough staff to meet demand. COVID still continues to play a big role in this with all the tests.
Am I the only one who gets my blood tests done at the local public hospital?
Makes things way easier if I ever end up in hospital.
All the info is on HealtheNet/myhealthrecord, the poor ED intern doesn't have to try and figure out which pathological collection centre is "in the shopping mall, the one next to coles, not the one near the optometrist" and then call them only to be gaslit because the pathology company receptionist has to wake up a staff member to access the results
Sounds ok, but in the case where the test results are a "nil" result, the patient still has a problem that hasn't been resolved. For example, in OPs case, if their test results are clear, then what is causing their abdominal pains? That is why they need to see their GP again.
Not to mention liability
Pathology techs aren't in a position to interpret and/or diagnose. What may be normal for one person might be a problem for someone else with a medical condition that the doctor knows about but not the lab tech.
Find yourself a bulk billing doctor. Still plenty about. Hopefully the Labour government sorts things out as it will deter a lot of people from seeking medical attention if GP's start charging a fee.
On a side note, in the same boat. Had random abdominal pains for some weeks. Blood tests all ok, CT scan all ok. Tests continue. If i had to pay for each GP visit it would be quite a hit.
And people may not go initially or follow up. Makes me upset thinking of people making that choice.
That was what Medicare was created for. To achieve universal healthcare.
Problem is Medicare has not been moving with the times, it's stuck in 2013 pricing.
Can't see how GP are expected to absorb the cost to provide healthcare when the govt doesn't care to fix it?
Since the year 2000, pensions (which have been indexed to wage growth since 2009) have gone up from about $9500 per year to about $24500 per year, around 260%. In the same timeframe, the Medicare rebate has gone from $27 to $40, or a bit less than 50%.
OUR medicare rebate, if indexed to inflation since inception, would be worth about $80 in today's dollars and virtually no GPs would charge a gap. I find it incredible that people keep blaming the private businesses for being greedy, but don't feel like we should hold the government responsible for letting the backbone of the healthcare system crumble like this.
Op just pay it and see what the results are. I have had pretty up there abdominal pain twice in the past month and now I have a ultrasound result saying 7mm gallstone, and an appointment with a general surgeon to see if he recommends removing it. You just never know.
Imagine how much worse it would be if you lived in the US and didn't have health insurance
Or in a 3rd world country. What's your point tho?
If it makes you feel any better, my GP charges an $80 gap each time and he's often 30-45 minutes late.
Here here!
I'm not complaining - unfortunately, I need them more than they need me! 😪
Send me $30 and I'll post my thoughts…
I have posted stuff for free, but it is sub-quality and I wouldn't recommend reading it.
My GP tells me to phone for the results, so I don’t get charged. But what’s worse is when, before you call, you get the automated text that says “come in to discuss your results”, because that means something isn’t good…
I don't know if this has changed now with COVID related MBS telehealth item numbers, but back in the day the GP wouldn't get paid for that phone call at all. Not by you, or the government
Nice!
@Save Medicare: My GP is also clever in that they don’t actually see patients from 330-5pm, so this is when they do all their phone calls etc.
Our GP clinic doesn't usually charge for results as a follow up, BUT the gap on normal appointments are about $60. My husband insists on going there because of the very experienced GP he used to see who has since retired. The junior doctor who replaced him charges the same gap.
Unfortunately in all things where the gov pays, there wil be rorts.
But in the end medicare is doing a good job helping most people have better health. Is it perfect - no, can it be improved yes, but in the end it is better than nothing and better than many or most ohter places.
Unfortunately we just have to accept the good with the bad, because if we didnt have medicare for example a lot of kids would get far worse healthcare and im sure most people would prefer to pay the extra tax and other extras than have old people and kids suffer