I have never needed to go to a hospital or even a doctor in years, and yet the first time I need medical treatment (to have a filling at the dentist) I discover that Medicare doesn't cover dentistry. In the end I discovered it's cheaper for me to sign up to a Private health plan which has dental but not much else (which costs about 112$ a month), wait 2 months for the "waiting period" and then have the filling. I've been a good citizen, I pay my taxes, I pay for my video games (mostly) and the ONE THING I need the government for they couldn't give me!

ANYONE WHO TELLS YOU AUSFAILIA HAS "UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE" IS WRONG, IT'S NOT "UNIVERSAL" BECAUSE IT DOESN'T COVER DENTAL!

REVOLUTION NOW, NATIONALIZE THE DENTISTS! SOCIALISM FOR THE TEETH! SEND MALCOLM TURNBULL TO THE GUILLOTINE!

Nationalize life insurance while you're at it, if something happens to you, you can probably sue them for having bad policies. It must be that you have nationalized health care but for some reason it doesn't include dentistry. I'm curious if I have anything like that as well. Ofc there's always the capitalist alternative of going to a private dentist and paying for a filling instead.

I don't mind Malcom Turnbull, I like how he mostly minds his own business and isn't an attention whore politician like Tony Abbot was and still is.

I am going to a private dentist, it's just that if you go to a private doctor's clinic you can usually write it off from Medicare (if the place bulk-bills). Dentistry isn't covered by Medicare.

You should be thankful that you are not in third world.
Btw your condition reminds me of Stu from The Hangover.

Libertarian filth get outta my thread

Understand what you are saying but shouldn't you of known which benefits were covered when you signed up?

Probably never will be until there is some sort of regulation (ever wonder why dentists in general are so well off? they can charge what they want.. no wonder people go overseas to get equally good care but at a much fairer price).

I thought everything is going private nowadays. Just wait until nation's tax services are turned private (although while I'm no socialist, I think it's ridiculous to call something private when it's mostly subsidized by the state, pawned off to the private sector who then can hold far less responsibility towards their customers).

Here we have a sort of program that basically is a separate dentristry insurance that is priced based upon your history of teeth. As someone who has great teeth and take care of them, I still subscribe to it because insurance adds peace of mind.

Forget nations by the way. The future is globalization. We should globalize insurance so everyone gets universal healthcare at birth, but oh wait, who will pay for it? Oh, right, our childrens' children. The debt machine is here to praise us all. They have strong unions or political committies that protect them. It's the same in Sweden but they aren't as well off as doctors or lawyers. After all, when there's prestige and high demand in a certain work area, people at the top of them will limit its availablity to keep it insured for the future. Call it job prestige security.

No idea how it works in detail, but they are unregulated here (unlike doctors -- bulk of doctors are not well off -- specialists are ones making all the money - my uncle is a dentist and he charges his own prices...no controls or limits. People either accept it or find someone else. Is it lawyers or solicitors who actually make the money?.

(unlike doctors -- bulk of doctors are not well off

And that's a joke.

While general doctors make perhaps 2-4x median income here, specialist can make everything from 4 to 20x, possibly more. As for difference between lawyer and solicitor, I never really got the detailed explanation other than that solicitior seems to be like a junior version. When it comes to lawyer profession though, the ones that makes a lot of money are senior partners in large firms because they buy in to get equity, drawing profits as the firm makes profits (but with risks of course).

I thought the thread was "public"? :) You naughty usurper of the commons ;)

Technically its not free in "socialist" countries like Sweden, its paid for by taxes.
In any case the healthcare system here is getting increasingly privatized, as already mentioned, and healthcare services keep getting worse because of it.