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To: Jim McMannis who wrote (90181)	9/23/2007 10:46:08 PM
From: 10K a day	Respond to of 306849

Geico.

To: Jim McMannis who wrote (90181)	9/24/2007 3:19:28 AM
From: Elroy Jetson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

This is actually a sore subject with Australians, since health care options are far more complete and state-of-the-art in Australia than in New Zealand - and Australia and New Zealand have a reciprocal residency agreement for their citizens. Australia has socialized medicine as does New Zealand. But they have tight immigration policy because they know they can't give it to everybody. The result is a "number" of severely ill citizens of New Zealand moving to Australia for health care, sometimes living on welfare. Australians believe the numbers involved are huge while New Zealanders usually don't believe this happens. The truth is somewhere between these extremes. Some New Zealanders claims their health care equals that in Australia, which is generally true if you're not very ill. But if you want state-of-the-art, that's not always available in New Zealand. This system has nice aspects for people on limited duration tourist visas. Nations like Australia have reciprocal Medicare agreements with other nations with comparable coverage. While Australians are on holiday in places like Canada or Europe, they can continue to receive medical care, just as the citizens of these states receive care in Australia. This reciprocity often extends to retirees with permanent visas. .

To: Jim McMannis who wrote (90181)	9/24/2007 3:30:33 AM
From: Elroy Jetson	Respond to of 306849

Also, while Medicare covers everyone in Australia, citizens have the option of also purchasing private insurance which act as a supplement to Medicare. This can provide coverage for items not covered under Medicare, such as plastic surgery, or can pay for a private hospital suite, or the ability to see your Doctor in his private office rather than in the public health centre. Many nations with Medicare allow a private health insurance market. But the fact that everyone is covered first by Medicare makes the private policies inexpensive. In Australia something like $1,500 compared with $5,000 or so in the US. In spite of the low cost, only about a quarter of Australians purchase the private insurance. Some nations like Switzerland don't cover citizens with Medicare, but have a law requiring mandatory private health insurance or a large bond, with jail sentences for failing to comply and insurance premium subsidies for those with low incomes. When only a portion of the population is covered by some type of medical insurance, as in the US, the end result is the insured people and taxpayers end up paying for the uninsured. For this reason, universal health coverage is unlikely to cost very much. The costs of the uninsured are already being paid in your own insurance premiums. .