[Sunfish (Ray)]

I have had a few rounds of surgery in both public and private hospitals and have always had private hospital cover only. The problem with private health insurance is that it does not really cover a decent part of the the cost of your choice of medical people , scans and allied costs. Only the stay in the private hospital is really covered. Every other thing is not really covered to any degree if you choose your own surgeon. Nice room but it is incredibly expensive in private health.

You can often choose your own surgeon and see them in a public or private system and choose based on the type of procedure they use . That is common to many highly regarded surgeons. I have been able to choose either. The private system is good for those who can afford it to skip the wait and have a nice room but not always. It would be wrong to think that private health insurance covers much of it or that anyone should accept whatever surgeon happens to be in that area at their local private hospital or better covered by their insurer. They are bound to be a lesser choice than a well known surgeon who works in both private and public hospitals and preferably a big public teaching hospital.

You an always choose either way, and the idea that an Australian would be made to wait for a life saving surgery in a public hospital is wrong. That is where the life saving surgeries are most performed.