How Free Public Healthcare in Australia Saved Me

In the summer of 1992 I took a 10-week trip through Australia and New Zealand. One of the many things I eagerly anticipated was the opportunity for horseback riding, something I had enjoyed in my childhood and sorely missed as an adult. I signed up for two rides, one on the beach at Magnetic Island which is off the coast of Queensland near Townsville, and the other at Ross River in the Northern Territory east of Alice Springs. The group ride at Magnetic Island was magnificent, even though the horse they assigned me was a Clydesdale with the name…get this…Clyde. He was truly a gentle giant and I had a wonderful time though I earned a few saddle sores that day and my rear end hasn’t been the same since. Clydesdale aren’t exactly known for their smooth gait. We took a ride to the beach and ran the horses up and down the sand for a while, and then for a treat rode them bareback into the water. Clyde loved that part and thankfully he didn’t roll in the water like a couple of the others.

I should have stopped after that ride because no rides in my memory could ever top that one, but I wanted to ride in the Outback as well. The morning I got up for the group ride at Ross River I should have changed me mind. Let’s just say my horse didn’t want to go for a ride that day and tossed me after only a few minutes. We were already out in a rocky area and I was really fortunate not to land on or hit my head on any of the rocks. I landed on my back in a hard spot, rolled into a really prickly bush, and just laid there face down, unable to move. A few minutes later the others riders came looking for me after my horse streaked past them, riderless. Two of them rolled me over (bad idea) and I threw up. A couple of the riders went back to the cabins and got help. A dusty truck drove up and they carefully lifted me in and drove me back to my cabin. Though I felt a lot of pain in my upper back I couldn’t feel anything below my waist.

I was conscious and able to talk, and the tour operators and ranch manager did a quick assessment to figure out the extent of my injuries. I’m terribly ticklish, so when my feet did not respond to touch, they summoned an ambulance. Back then the road to the ranch was bumpy and rocky and it took quite a while for the emergency personnel to get there. The ride to the hospital in Alice Springs was agonizing. I could feel every bump and jolt in my upper body, and they gave me some happy gas to take my mind off the pain and nausea.

Once at the hospital they wheeled me to Emergency where the doctors quickly did an assessment. No signs of bleeding or head injury thankfully, and they ordered x-rays of my back and legs. The wait for radiology was long, it seemed like forever as I lay on a gurney in the hallway, and I had time to think about how much all of this was going to cost. I worked as a missionary teacher on a small Pacific island making a very small salary which I supplemented with tutoring on the side, and two years of scrimping and saving that money is what paid for this vacation. I had no travel insurance to help with medical bills, so I was very concerned about how I would pay for everything. I was worried about how long I would have to remain in the hospital in a country far from home. And of course there was the worry about my back and how serious the injuries were. The uncertainty of it all was overwhelming and I began to think if I could just get up and walk somehow I would go back to the tour hotel, rest for a few days, and then decide what to do next. Of course I realize now how utterly stupid that line of thinking was given the situation, but at that moment I couldn’t see a solution for how I could possibly pay for any of it. I felt panic.

After x-rays and hours of more waiting and lying still on another gurney I finally got the news that I had a broken lumbar vertebra but my spine was intact, an announcement that brought immense relief, and they planned to keep me for observation to see if any feeling would start to return to my lower body or if any other symptoms presented. Sometime later that evening I felt the urge to urinate, a very positive sign, though I couldn’t move myself to do anything about it. A few hours later I was able to move my legs a bit, but I still had no feeling in my lower back and buttocks. I was determined to get out of the hospital because I couldn’t get the money situation out of my mind, and I just wanted to get back home to see my own doctor so we could figure out what to do next. I insisted on leaving, which stunned the doctors. They finally agreed, saying if I could walk out of the hospital they would release me. I was sure they thought I wouldn’t make it, and I almost didn’t.

I needed assistance to get to my feet, then immediately got dizzy and threw up. After a rest I tried again, and with someone to lean on I made it out of the hospital, got into a cab, and went to the hotel where I laid down and just tried not to move or think about anything. Sleep came fast, but my dreams were filled with worry about hospital costs, how to get back home, and what would have to be done about my back.

During a conversation with the tour operators the next morning, I learned that I had been treated at a public hospital and that all the services provided were free and available to anyone. I couldn’t believe it and to this day I still get choked up when I think about it. Now as our country tries to sort out our own healthcare system, I often think back to my hospital experience in Australia and how their healthcare system saved me after the accident. Even though my back has caused me problems ever since, I am still grateful that their public hospital was open to anyone who needed treatment, including me, a visitor in their country.

Is the Australian system perfect? No. They had to make some very hard choices. The universal healthcare system is paid for with a 1.5% income tax and general revenue, with exceptions for low income earners. There are mandatory waits for some treatments, and private insurance has strict rules regarding pre-existing conditions, including obstetrics. To keep the system from becoming overburdened, the government has enacted several rules such as requiring higher income earners without adequate private coverage to pay an additional 1% income tax, additional loading charges on people who do not take out private healthcare by age 30, as well as a sliding scale to be introduced in 2010 that will means-test private insurance rebates for higher income workers.

I admit I have not read all of the 1,018 pages of the current U.S. healthcare legislation, but I hope all our elected senators and representatives have read every line of it. I hope that both political parties can stop slinging propaganda and talk about what we can realistically accomplish. I hope that the people involved with making these major decisions have carefully studied the models of other countries and learned something from those examples. Ultimately I hope that all sides can come together to create a workable healthcare solution that provides options for everyone without leaving an enormous financial burden on our children and grandchildren. I don’t know if that’s possible, but I can hope.

Original DC Metro Moms Blog post.

Andrea writes about cooking, gardening and her four hungry guys at Andrea Meyers (Andrea's Recipes).