This week my appointment with the bone doctor finally came around, some three weeks post MRI. It was a wait, but then it wasn't an emergency - aside from me being in constant agony. I knew I'd been triaged, and it was a non-displaced radial head fracture, and the internet said I'd probably not need surgery, so I didn't bother trying to get into the private clinic and paying $300 for the consult.

Now, I can afford to stretch to $300, and if I needed surgery, I could have used savings for that, even if it was about 6 - 8 thousand AUD. Going private means a fast track here, and if you go public for non emergency surgery, it's usually a year waiting list, depending on what category you are in. For example, my husband waited 8 months to get a nose surgery. If he'd gone private, it would have cost more, unless he had the private health care to cover it.

An irrelevant sign, in my bid to not use AI. I'd rather irrelvant to slop.

That's sort of the trade off with the Australian system - we are very lucky to have most of our health care covered and we know emergency surgery, childbirth, and many other unforeseen injuries and health problems are covered, gratis, or at least very low cost through our Medicare system.

This can suck if you're in a lot of pain waiting for a knee surgery, but you can still opt to go private and pay out of pocket for it if you have the savings, and even if you have private health there are likely still gap fees to pay. Most of the time we tolerate the wait and hope for a cancellation or try to get into a clinic in another town (Jamie did this with his rhinoplasty so didn't wait a year).

Whether we're better off than America probably depends on who you ask and how much money they have but we just hear absolute horror stories here. It sounds good if you are on a good insurance plan or you have enough cash, but it does sound like healthcare costs there can be totally brutal. We're always terrified of becoming 'like America' in that regard and ending up with debt that can follow you around for years.

There has been times in my life where I could have afforded private health care, but I believed in our public health system. Having friends and family go through public v private for cancer treatment, I've seen, isn't much difference, except maybe you have your own room and better meals.

Having a few things happen of late, such as issues with my hip and this fractured elbow, meant I was thinking about private health again. However, it's too late for me - because I've never paid it, it'd be more expensive (something to do with a loading?), around $300 a month.

Even with fairly basic hospital cover and no dental or extras, you're still probably talking somewhere around $2,000 - $3,000 a year on average since I was 18, factoring in annual increases (thanks Chatty), meaning somewhere up to the $100k mark over my lifetime, and that's before gap fees, excess payments, dental, certain scans, non bulk billed hospital appointments.

Because I've been in good health and have only needed the hospital for stitches once, oh, and I had a baby, it would not have been worth it for me.

So though it seems good to get it just because I could need a hip replacement I'd rather, like many of us, rely on my savings just in case, or just put up with waiting between 30 and 365 days.

Back to my fractured elbow, I had to pay for the MRI, which was less than a day's work for me. X-rays are many other scans are free, so my next x-ray check up in a month will be nothing except the parking fees close to the hospital (none if I walk a few blocks).

I had to wait for an hour an a half with a waiting room of some fifty people waiting to see ten doctors, but I was seen eventually. I knew it couldn't have been that bad or I wouldn't have waited two weeks to see him. Luckily, I was given the all clear to do what I need with the physio, where each appointment will cost $100. Now, this is still not an issue for me - I would have paid far more over time for physio extras and still that's limited to a certain amount per year.

Wait - rewind - the all clear! He said I'll be fine in a month or so and back surfing before I know it.

Woo hoo!

Yay for the public health system.

Although I wanted to poke the GP in the eye who told me I needed to be careful at my age, I do still think I'm going to be very, very careful on my bike from now on - I definitely don't want to even have to think about doctors for a while.