AMUSING, INTERESTING, OUTRAGEOUS, or PROFOUND

TL;DR: AU isn’t a good model to base change off. Expensive and scammy.

Not sure what a PCP is, but before I left AU earlier this year, my GP visits were ~AU$100 with a $40 rebate. Private healthcare cannot cover the $60 gap by law, along with a host of other specialists and scans. It felt like a massive scam to have private health. Yes there are free clinics you can go to (“Bulk Billing”), but in my experience because they were always overworked and understaffed, the standard of care wasn’t as good. Plus it was hard to see the same doctor regularly, so you waste more of everyone’s time going over your medical history.

Compare that to Germany, I decided to go with public health here, which comes directly out of my paycheque. It’s expensive, but I don’t see that money and I can go to basically any (English speaking) doctor here, pay nothing for the appointment, and prescriptions are 5 or 10€ (only had one so far, can’t remember the exact cost). Standard of care feels much more in line with the private care of AU. I know there are some scans and blood tests I may need to pay for, but nothing feels scammy so far.

Japan is also 30% due at time of service, though prices are nothing like the US (that 30% also drops in retirement age). People can and often do get some kind of private insurance, usually bundled with their life insurance, to cover certain life-altering events. I imagine there's some sort of private health insurance like US folks would think of, but I don't know anyone who carries it. One can do certain procedures off insurance and pay (still cheaper than US prices) here as well if they want.