In countries with universal healthcare insurance, why does healthcare insurance exist? (because everyone pays the same price)
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Universal healthcare systems don’t necessarily cover everything. Basically, people take out private health cover so they’re covered for more than what the public health system covers.
Australia for one has what is referred to as a ‘two-tiered’ system. There is a public system, which everyone can access, and a private system, which is generally only used by people who pay extra for private health insurance because it would cost too much otherwise.
Every citizen here gets Medicare* from the government. This covers a lot of things but not everything. You can for example go to the emergency room at a public hospital and it won’t cost you a thing, but a lot of other things are only partially subsidised, and some things aren’t covered at all. For example, I went to the GP this week and Medicare covered about half the fee.
*This is very different to the Medicare that exists in the US. It just has the same name.
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