Interesting, thanks for the summary! We studied a lot of different health systems in my program, mostly European ones though, so cool to see how the Aussie one differs. It’s got some similarities to the Swedish system but it’s also different in a lot of ways.
TLDR on the Swedish system: both public and private healthcare providers all under the same system, same fees to see all of them, although fees very slightly depending on your county. All care is free up until age 19. A doctor’s visit is 12 USD, an hour with a psychologist is 6 USD, hospitalization is 6 USD per day and that covers everything (surgery, meds, food). Once you’ve spent 133 USD for medical care then everything following that is free until your next annual billing period. Prescriptions are separate from that cost, although most prescriptions are really cheap and you’re capped at 266 USD per year for prescriptions (it’s actually more complex than that, the government starts picking up 50% of the tab after you’ve paid 133 USD, increasing their subsidy as you pay more). You can always get treatment for free if your situation necessitates it: when I was a student I straight up asked a receptionist not to bill me $36 because I didn't have an income, and she nodded and ripped up my bill on the spot.
It’s really strange to me that you pay a flat fee of $38.30 for prescriptions, that seems awfully high for a lot of drugs! Also nice to see you can call your VA system “excellent” as opposed to the sad state of affairs that is the American VA system. And the TAC is pretty novel, I’ve never heard of anything like that before.
