US woman ‘shook’ after experience with Aussie healthcare
A US woman was left stunned by how slick the Australian healthcare system is after having to go to emergency the moment she landed.
A US woman was left stunned by how slick the Australian healthcare system is after having to race to the emergency department the moment she landed in the country.
Gigi, 32, from California, and her husband, relocated their family to the Northern Territory last month.
After arriving in the country, Gigi, who suffers from chronic health problems and a disability, was admitted to the hospital shortly after the long-haul flight from Los Angeles touched down.
In a TikTok that has been liked more than 10,000 times, the mother rated the healthcare system Down Under a 10/10.
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She said in the US, she is lucky if she doesn’t get accused of seeking drugs or waiting up to four hours to be given any medication.
“I’m shook at how much was done for me in a short time. All in the emergency department,” she wrote.
“Would have taken a month to get the same services done back in the States,” Gigi continued.
She explained that because there’s an opioid crisis in the US, it is assumed “you might be coming in to get high, not because you’re in pain”.
“But here immediately, they gave me strong pain meds. I thought, ‘Oh my god, you get that here? I don’t even know how to even get that in the United States,’” she told the Daily Mail.
In her TikTok, Gigi, who works in a school, said she received meds “promptly after arriving” with doctors and nurses “genuinely concerned” about her health.
“A physical therapist gave me a massage and did exercises with me, the doc gave me a referral to rheumatology and I was given an abdominal binder.”
Gigi, who spent the night in hospital, was given a $US680 ($A1013) bill, but said she will be reimbursed through her private health provider.
The same treatment in the United States would cost her “at least $5000”.
She said she legally has to pay for private healthcare if she wants to keep her visa.
“I get no Medicare. Legally, I cannot get it. So yes, I would rather that little bit of money go toward paying cash for my healthcare cause I cannot get assistance from the Government here at all,” she said in a separate TikTok.
Gigi said her family loved their first month in Australia and were planning on staying for years.
She has since been documenting her travels and experiences on her TikTok, attracting more than seven million likes on her clips.
Hospital bed cost in US
The United States is known for having expensive healthcare and because of that it pushes up the cost for any tourists who aren’t covered by an insurance plan and end up in hospital.
According to Australian comparison site Finder, Aussies can fork out a staggering $1279 on average for a stay in a New York hospital bed, which is 45 times the cost of an insurance policy.
The figures were based on those aged 30 with Finder analysing the price of a hospital bed against a travel insurance policy for a one-week trip in July.
It found a stark price difference between the two, revealing that staying in hospital is 44 times more expensive on average than a travel insurance policy across Australians’ top 10 travel destinations.
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