The Real Life Horror Story: Australian Healthcare

 Case Study I

There once lived a healthy girl blessed with above average stamina. She rarely succumbed to infections. She had finished spending her parent’s life savings on an Australian course; having been lured there by a covert university representative. She couldn’t find work to support her basic needs and was exploited at every turn in a manner that is typical of Aussies. 

Then on one very unfortunate day before Christmas, she fell terribly ill due to the contaminated water in her suburb and the stress of exams/moving house. She kept bleeding and wouldn’t stop for weeks. This happened twice within a span of a year. She would see white spots that would blur her vision for a few seconds, before her legs gave way. She suffered continuous headaches on the left side of her brain, possible as a result of low haemoglobin count and oxygen deprivation. Clots the size of tennis balls would come out of her, draining every ounce of strength from her already weakened body. 

The girl had previously heard of the notoriously poor healthcare system in Australia and had vowed never to land in one of the hospitals, despite having paid for her very own insurance cover for a period of four years. This included a hefty lump sum of $1000 per year.  She had a difficult choice to make. She chose her life instead and drove to one of the nearest hospitals. There she was made to wait for six hours before being admitted to a ward. She was given a blood transfusion and a combination of pills that had never worked well on her before. 

She woke up in high spirits the next day, only to nearly faint again at the sight of the bill, which had magically amounted to $3000! She was groggy from all the medication and was forced to pay an upfront deposit of a $1000 while in bed. Despite having private insurance, the girl was frightened with all sorts of uninformed bullshit by the two financial officers towering over her. She was due for surgery the very same day, but was asked to pay another $1000 for another day’s stay at the hospital. The girl was in bad shape, but she couldn’t put up with this any longer and discharged herself from the hospital before the digits could pile up further. The girl felt it best to die soaking in her own blood, rather than be in debt.

Case Study II

A young man lived in a Victorian suburb infested with druggies and wankers. This man had Medicare and a job. He was healthy apart from the occasional springtime allergy which arose due to the shit cocktail of various pollen grains flying around in the place.  He suffered from a mysterious migraine, accompanied by a loss of appetite, vomiting and a sore neck. He assumed it to be food poisoning. He need a second opinion however and decided to head to the hospital, but was greeted instead by a long queue and slow service. He decided to abandon his effort and visit the local GP instead. 

The GP did a few pathetic and irrelevant tests; declaring his affliction to be a sinus problem and chest congestion. He was given treatment for respiratory ailments. The neck ache wouldn’t budge and kept him awake. He purged his gut for 3 days straight and was doomed to starvation.  He made a second attempt at visiting the hospital and was made to wait for nearly half a day, before being told he had suffered none other than a Stroke! The man wondered how a stroke could possibly be confused with a sinus problem. Had he waited any longer and visited anymore GPs, he would have probably been lying dead in his own puke.