When you need to see a gp or a medical specialist do you pay with cash or use a card?

@JimboSaturn Medicare is *supposed* to make all general medical free. Dental has never been covered under Medicare though (only under 'extras' cover with private health insurance if a person has that). Healthcare providers are allowed to charge basically whatever they like above the 'standard' fees for each service and the extra bit is called the 'gap'. If someone has any level of private health insurance they have automatic coverage for all ambulance, etc. but private health insurance is very expensive and many people no longer have it. If you don't have it above age 30 the cost to buy it goes up based on a factor of how many years page age 30 you don't have it. if you don't have it for a whole year, at tax time you have to pay a higher medicare levy (called a Medicare Levy Surchage). Every taxpayer pays a set percentage to contribute to the cost of Medicare, and the MLS is not paid by most people who have private health insurance. I pay $150 a month for my own private health insurance which covers me for ambulance, basic hospital (not private hospital), and basic dental (I can't afford top level 'extras' cover). At tax time the government 'rebates' a person for how much of the year they've held private health insurance cover but the rebate isn't much.

@zonavar68 Actually yes, dental is not free; people who have the right jobs have coverage through their work, but the poorest don't and they have to pay out of pocket.

Your system sounds confusing. It's like a mixture of private and public health care.

@JimboSaturn Health cover provided through work is extremely rare here. You have to pay for it yourself, or don't have any. Our system is creeping closer and closer to the US-style HMO model. I haven't seen a GP in about 2 years, but I'm overdue for a dental visit.

@zonavar68 That sucks! There are forces here that want to become more American too. For dental our system is really two tier, if you work in an office and have a certain kind of job, your work provides, but if you have a service industry job, you don't have anything and you need it the most.

That's because insurance companies make money from covering young people because they rarely go to the doctor, so if if they don't have it by 30 they're not going to make as much. @zonavar68

@Spoiledbrat Probably on the money I'd say. It's pretty sad that dental has never been covered by Medicare here, and almost nobody has any sort of healthcare provided through their employer (except the military, and some US companies operating in Australia).