4 Comments

  1. Carmen

    September 26, 2017 at 9:55 am

    Great article! I’m US trained physician living & working in Australia & I totally see all the things you brought up in the article. It has been VERY interesting having the opportunity to practice in both systems. Happy to hear more of your thoughts!

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  2. Abhishek

    June 9, 2018 at 11:26 am

    Not to mention the cost of medications Dr. O’Brien. Little things like a Ventolin puffer for Asthma which costs about $7 back home for one pack or $13 for two packs costs close to about $85 here in the states. Not just that, commonly prescribed insulin administrations (novomix) costs $38.50 in Australia and close to $600 here in the states. Heaven forbid, someone who is on a low income (not too low to qualify for medicare, but not high enough to be able to afford private insurance), gets an asthmatic attack (I’d even shudder to think what would happen to them).

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    • Leena O'Brien

      November 28, 2018 at 9:48 am

      Absolutely! Great point. Symbicort costs $300 for a one month supply here in the states if uninsured (so per inhaler!). I saw a elderly man on the street in 45 degree heat begging for money to pay for his wife’s medications after her stroke as they weren’t covered by their insurance company. Heartbreaking and so unnecessary.

      Reply
  3. Nomaan

    May 9, 2020 at 2:41 pm

    Great article. I read part 1 before landing on this one. One point I wanted to put forward. You mentioned that USA is better in electronic record keeping, well I can’t completely agree on it. When I came to Australia I had to take my 1 year old to emergency and next day to GP. And I was surprised how the GP called the hospital to get the records, and that took merely 15 to 20 minutes. This was never the case in USA. I had to take the records myself to the doctor, unless the doctor facility and the hospital are part of the same organization. USA is still very much behind in exchanging the medical records. All thanks to crappy HIPPA policy, I guess.

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