Simple. Private providers, government rebates. Thus the government
controls the charges. Here a service provider can charge what they
want but the patient gets rather annoyed if the govt. rebate is a
long way below the charge. Even 'gap' insurance only covers to a pre-
set level. Thus the service provider is under enormous pressure to
conform and many hospitals and surgeons simply charge the rebate plus
gap so that an insured patient sees no charge at all.
Strangely, this has not led to a massive rise in hypochondria.
One recurring battle is between the As. govt. and drug companies. As
the cost of a prescibed medication to the consumer is capped, the
govt. tries to force pharmaceutical companies to supply at a
reasonable cost to reduce their exposure - with some success I believe.
Andrew Fildes
afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
On 26/02/2007, at 5:39 AM, Richard Ociepka wrote:
> Now, how do we keep the government out of it?
> Which is worse, the fat cats in health care or the politicians?
> The lawyers don't help either.
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