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Medicare, you should be paying more

Medicare, you should be paying more

Old Feb 21st 2014, 2:51 am
  #31  
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Default Re: Medicare, you should be paying more

Originally Posted by JoeBloggs80
To go against the grain, its only my personal experiences but I've got nothing but good things to say about the Aus Healthcare system.

The Private Insurance thing is stupid, I only signed up for the tax break, but I've claimed back more than I've spent every year.

A close family friend was just diagnosed with cancer and had 7 weeks of intensive chemo/radio therapy straight away for free.

Know lots of people who have had kids through the public system for free and had great service.

Sounds like I've been lucky.
Our experience is the same

Great public care and taken more out of insurance than we have put in
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Old Feb 21st 2014, 2:52 am
  #32  
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Default Re: Medicare, you should be paying more

Originally Posted by Amazulu
Our experience is the same

Great public care and taken more out of insurance than we have put in

With the system as it is, you have to play it that way - claim for stuff when you know you won't have a huge bill, but go public otherwise.


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Old Feb 21st 2014, 2:53 am
  #33  
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Default Re: Medicare, you should be paying more

Originally Posted by Swerv-o
Perhaps if we weren't intent on wasting many tens of billions of dollars on worthless defence spending, then we would have more money for Medicare in the first place.



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We should be spending more on defence and healthcare and less on welfare and civil servants - the real economy killers
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Old Feb 21st 2014, 3:00 am
  #34  
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Default Re: Medicare, you should be paying more

Originally Posted by Amazulu
We should be spending more on defence and healthcare and less on welfare and civil servants - the real economy killers

Yes, but government jobs are a significant form of employment in Australia - Imagine if you made the medicare claiming process completely electronic - retrench all those people working at the centres, and sell up all the CBD real estate for Medicare centres.

Huge saving there I suspect, while also nullifying the need to go and queue with the masses for somebody to check your claim form and enter the numbers manually.

Why not merge all the vehicle licencing agencies while we're at it - make that a federal responsibility. Do we really need 6 licencing authorities for 23m people? I don't think so. The UK manage to administer far more drivers from a shitty office building in Swansea...


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Old Feb 21st 2014, 3:18 am
  #35  
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Default Re: Medicare, you should be paying more

Originally Posted by Amazulu
We should be spending more on defence and healthcare and less on welfare and civil servants - the real economy killers
Why more on defence?
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Old Feb 21st 2014, 3:21 am
  #36  
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Default Re: Medicare, you should be paying more

Originally Posted by Swerv-o
Yes, but government jobs are a significant form of employment in Australia - Imagine if you made the medicare claiming process completely electronic - retrench all those people working at the centres, and sell up all the CBD real estate for Medicare centres.

Huge saving there I suspect, while also nullifying the need to go and queue with the masses for somebody to check your claim form and enter the numbers manually.

Why not merge all the vehicle licencing agencies while we're at it - make that a federal responsibility. Do we really need 6 licencing authorities for 23m people? I don't think so. The UK manage to administer far more drivers from a shitty office building in Swansea...


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Or get rid of state governments full stop. When they are a different party to the federal government, there always seems to be a conflict of interest holding progress up even further.
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Old Feb 21st 2014, 3:31 am
  #37  
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Default Re: Medicare, you should be paying more

Originally Posted by knockoff nige
Or get rid of state governments full stop. When they are a different party to the federal government, there always seems to be a conflict of interest holding progress up even further.

They seem to be when they are the same party as the federal government too.

Yes, abolishing state governments would be a great move - all of those worthless state politicians out on the street with nothing but futures as lobbyists ahead of them. Very satisfying I should suspect!

But in seriousness, there is a lot of duplication and replication of roles throughout the state system. The problem I would surmise is that the number of redundancies required by abolishing the states would cause mayhem on the federal budget.

I have no issue with defence spending - but it has to be the right spending, as defence has to be able to defend. My issue with the current spending plans is that they are severely limiting defence capabilities in favour of, well, I'm not really sure. The Collins 2 project will doubtless see some jobs in SA retained, but the JSF is just a huge white elephant that nobody seems able to walk away from, and is costing quite literally billions.


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Old Feb 21st 2014, 3:37 am
  #38  
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Default Re: Medicare, you should be paying more

Originally Posted by knockoff nige
Why more on defence?

So we can defend ourselves
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Old Feb 21st 2014, 3:49 am
  #39  
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Default Re: Medicare, you should be paying more

Originally Posted by Swerv-o
Yes, but government jobs are a significant form of employment in Australia - Imagine if you made the medicare claiming process completely electronic - retrench all those people working at the centres, and sell up all the CBD real estate for Medicare centres.

Huge saving there I suspect, while also nullifying the need to go and queue with the masses for somebody to check your claim form and enter the numbers manually.

Why not merge all the vehicle licencing agencies while we're at it - make that a federal responsibility. Do we really need 6 licencing authorities for 23m people? I don't think so. The UK manage to administer far more drivers from a shitty office building in Swansea...


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Basically what I was saying

Australia, like the UK (thanks to messrs Blair and Brown) and many other countries, has far too many civil servants. The conservative government in the UK has made a start on rectifying this but has hardly made a dent and also lacks the political will to make it really happen. Here, Campbell, Barnett, Abbott and co have also made a start but hardly scratched the surface. Campbell has done the most good work but needs to go much, much further

Last year, Medicare scrapped cash refunds yet the large office they had in central Perth is still large and looks overmanned. Ridiculous. Canberra is the wealthiest state/territory in Australia. Why? Madness

Scrap the states. Federalism was a system for before telecommunications and flight. Time to go
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Old Feb 21st 2014, 3:56 am
  #40  
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Default Re: Medicare, you should be paying more

Seriously though, state governments need to go with only 20 million people. The UK does fine without them and 60 million.
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Old Feb 21st 2014, 3:57 am
  #41  
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Default Re: Medicare, you should be paying more

Originally Posted by Amazulu

Scrap the states. Federalism was a system for before telecommunications and flight. Time to go

Can't argue with this!


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Old Feb 21st 2014, 3:58 am
  #42  
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Default Re: Medicare, you should be paying more

I actually have no problem with a $6 GP fee. It will help curb addictive GP abuse.
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Old Feb 21st 2014, 4:01 am
  #43  
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Default Re: Medicare, you should be paying more

Originally Posted by Beoz
I actually have no problem with a $6 GP fee. It will help curb addictive GP abuse.

It will. The GP addictive people will all head to A&E instead...


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Old Feb 21st 2014, 4:03 am
  #44  
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Default Re: Medicare, you should be paying more

Originally Posted by Swerv-o

I have no issue with defence spending - but it has to be the right spending, as defence has to be able to defend. My issue with the current spending plans is that they are severely limiting defence capabilities in favour of, well, I'm not really sure. The Collins 2 project will doubtless see some jobs in SA retained, but the JSF is just a huge white elephant that nobody seems able to walk away from, and is costing quite literally billions.


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Forget Collins 2 and go for those American Virgina class SSNs

12 of those would get the Chinese and Indonesians thinking

I'm not sure about JSF. Yes, it all looks bad now but some of the greatest aircraft ever built - Lancaster, Mustang, B-17 - started off as real lemons. Even some aircraft that started off great - Spitfire, Mosquito, Phantom, Mirage - only got better and better with time and techological innovation

Biggest problem with JSF is that it's all eggs in one basket and is meant to be the last significant manned fighter
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Old Feb 21st 2014, 4:04 am
  #45  
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Default Re: Medicare, you should be paying more

Originally Posted by Beoz
I actually have no problem with a $6 GP fee. It will help curb addictive GP abuse.
Neither do I

Something the UK should seriously look at too
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