[shushpanchik]

That's not nearly true, at least for Melbourne as a metro area. I never heard of weeks waiting for GP appointment, and I never waited for more that 2-3 days for GP both in east and west suburbs. Usually you have at least 3-5 GP medical centres in 5 km radius, and in half of them appointments are avaliable same day or next day. That's the case now, and was the case 5 and 10 years ago, with only obvious exception during COVID. 6+ years wait could occur, but it would be ~1% of elective surgeries. Basically, elective surgeries are covered by private healthcare, that's the unofficial limitation of Medicare. I got an elective surgery twice, wait was 4-6 months. Just to stress, that's an elective surgery fo non-life threating condition that just affect your quality of life, so it's reasonable to expect people paying up private insurance/hospitals for getting this done quickly.

Emergency 12+ hours wait is not an ordinary situation - could be when there is a combination of very busy night (like Friday during long holidays) and lowest triage category. Every time I attended emergency I was almost immediately triaged and when things were serious, was admitted in minutes. When it was just a cut with bleeding stopped, I was advised after triage that I can wait for 4+ hours or just come back in the morning. All my friends had the similar experience with Melbourne's public hospital ERs.

2% medicare levy is cheap compared to taxes in other countries with free healthcare.

I'm actually very surprised that someone has such negative impression about Melbourne's medical system. There was a short period several years ago, related to COVID, when ambos ramping time could be hours, but that's not not typical for Melbourne, and was resolved pretty quickly.

[scorpioxy]

That's incorrect. I'll choose a couple of points to correct.

For the "elective" surgery, it's false to state that they are covered by private healthcare. There was also a push to move away from the term "elective" to something like "non-critical" if memory serves. Simply because a knee or hip replacement, as an example, isn't really something you can choose to do or not do when you're unable to walk. You can wait for a few months perhaps but since it affects your quality of life, including your ability to earn an income, then it's not a choice.

For the 1% claim, that's unlikely considering all the "operating blitzes" that had to be done in Victoria to decrease the huge list(the numbers were reported by the media if you're interested).

The pandemic lockdowns wasn't "several" years ago and the effects were felt long after, definitely not a "short period". You're forgetting to mention the ambulances writing on their vehicles where they're coming from and how long were their shifts just last year. Ramping is also still a problem but I am reading less about it in Victoria since the beginning of this year. Again not sure if it is better or just less reporting on it.

I'll grant you that some people don't get to experience this side of the system and some are lucky that they don't need it at all. Hopefully the more people talk about their negative experiences, as opposed to being surprised, the more accountability and improvements can be introduced. It can be a very good system if it was better maintained.

I'll refrain from commenting any further on this topic and thank you for your contribution.