According to the Daily Telegraph, many Australians are buying private health insurance just to avoid queuing up in the public health system, according to a new survey.
Finder, a financial comparison site, surveyed 1200 Australians who bought private health insurance and found that 16 percent bought private health care just to avoid queuing. Another survey found that 19 percent of those who did not buy private health care went to private hospitals rather than public hospitals.
Finder spokesman Hassan (Bessie Hassan) said many times people are eager to see a doctor, so they are prepared to spend a lot of money on private hospitals to avoid waiting in line to public hospitals. Private insurance is the best option for patients who want more choice and greater freedom. It is also important, however, to measure the value of spending.
The Finder estimates that in 2017, all Australians will have to wait one hundred and forty nine thousand years for selective surgery.
Australia's residents faced 38 days of waiting during the 17-year period, according to (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare), the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. The average waiting time for new state residents was 54 days, more than the Australian capital territories (46 days) and tower states (45 days), while the northern territories had the shortest waiting time, just 28 days.
Hasan said that the number of people waiting for selective surgery in public hospitals increased by nearly 3 percent in a year, and that many of the candidates were in private hospitals to ease the pressure on the queue. While some Australians pay hundreds of Australian dollars a month, it sometimes takes time to wait in the private health care system.
The Comparethemarket survey found that the length of waiting time for surgery at Australian hospitals was at the worst level in 15 years. Forty-two percent of people over the age of 65 who buy private health insurance are trying to avoid queuing.
Half of Australians who need to undergo knee replacement have 193 days to wait and 110 days for hip surgery, the website said.
It is not surprising, therefore, that avoiding waiting in line is the main reason why Australians buy private health insurance.
A spokesman for the website said patients with private health insurance faced more than half the waiting time for selective surgery than patients in public hospitals.
A spokesman for HCF Insurance said the company's clients bought insurance for reasons of choice of doctor, treatment time and availability of private wards.