An article was published today on the cost of getting healthcare in Australia. The variable missing was that this person still had ways to wrangle money for these visits. Not easy, I’m sure, but there are people with fewer resources.
So I thought I’d write a diary of needing healthcare from the perspective of someone with fewer resources.
Day 1 – pain
Day 14 – pain has only gotten worse
Day 35 – waited in emergency department for 18 hours to get pain seen to, only to be called anxious and discharged
Day 56 – pain persists, waited at cattle-call bulk billing clinic, only to be called a drug seeker, but a specialist referral was written
Day 365 – still suffering the pain
Day 467 – specialist appointment, where they shrugged and told me to exercise the pain away
Day 593 – still suffering
That’s a much more realistic account of using our “universal” healthcare system.
