Interesting article on reciprocal medical cover after the backpackers overdose

[PaulST]

No doubt true...but those folks are at least Australian.... and will have contributed to the tax regime....

I suspect they'll pay a lot less than people think, but yes, your point is taken.

I must admit I'm more sympathetic to young people that make a mistake and end up needing health care than middle aged people that continue to not look after themselves, but I digress.

 

[Pushka]

No doubt true...but those folks are at least Australian.... and will have contributed to the tax regime....

Errr, a ‘maybe’ on that last sentence.

 

[trooper]

Yes..I was very tempted to add "maybe"!!!

 

[Franky]

Do we really want to be American ?

Of course they will leave and it will be up to the hospital to chase the debt. What else can you do - confiscate the dope and a backpack ?

We could cancel the dope's visa?...

 

[Flying Fox]

As a tax payer I’d expect the hospital to chase the debt. It isn’t like we get away with it overseas and not just America. It’s self inflicted and no sympathy here.

Agreed. Passports should be confiscated until debt was paid.

 

[get me outta here]

This can’t be the first time something like this has happened. Be good to find out what is happening with their accounts.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Agreed. Passports should be confiscated until debt was paid.

Passports are the property of the issuing country and it would be unusual for it to be allowed to be held for the payment of a debt.

They did something stupid, they were lucky to be in a country where we had a good health system to deal with it. And it’s a lesson that will no doubt stick with them for years to come. in all likelihood other countries have provided care to aussies also unable to pay. i’m not joining the queue here to demand a pound of flesh. They seem to have indicated a willingness to take responsibility and pay.

 

[ajd]

Agreed. Passports should be confiscated until debt was paid.

Repaid using the money they'll have to raise how? Working here illegally, since you've confiscated their passports so they can't go home?

I have, in general, little sympathy for people who get into trouble as a result of their own voluntary use of drugs (inc. alcohol). But I'd like to think we can still show some mercy to people who have done something stupid.

Any policy to try and enforce payment also faces potential unintended consequences - if you fear, particularly in your drugged-up state, that calling an ambulance and seeking medical treatment is going to end up with your liberty being restricted, you could end up getting yourself into a far worse situation. Same reason why every drug educator who ever came to my high school would tell us that calling an ambulance for an OD at a party won't automatically mean the police will come to arrest everyone else while they're at it.

I'd expect that if they don't pay voluntarily they'd be pursued through civil action which is entirely reasonable, albeit made more complicated when dealing with foreign countries. No need for some kind of debtors' prison arrangement.

 

[Denali]

Reminds me of the time my office received a baggy containing strange white powder. Unlike the back-packing 9, snorting wasn't our first thought.

Turned out to be plaster of Paris/concrete for sent to us in error. We even masked up and gloves to handle it (finally, that spill kit came in handy).

Crazy (dumb) kids.

 

[Quickstatus]

... and will have contributed to the tax regime....

Not necessarily especially on net terms.

Public hospitals here get uninsured foreign tourists all the time coming through emergency. Generally the debt is written off even for the walking wounded.

Multiple entries into the country and also to same hospital are even permitted even with a unpaid existing debt. One would think an agreement with dept of immigration to stop entries unless debt is paid should be in place.

Also non Medicare patients borrowing Medicare card to use

Lots come here, overstay visa, hide in community while pregnant then front up to emergency to have a baby then disappear. They know that public hospitals don’t enquire with Immigration as to immigration status

(Above based on at the coal face experience)

 

[docjames]

Multiple entries into the country and also to same hospital are even permitted even with a unpaid existing debt. One would think an agreement with dept of immigration to stop entries unless debt is paid should be in place.

That would be expecting two parts of government to communicate properly......

 

[Quickstatus]

That would be expecting two parts of government to communicate properly......

Let alone communicate AT ALL

 

[docjames]

Let alone communicate AT ALL

 

[Quickstatus]

Could not one argue that due to a certain degree of freeloading by “ineligible for free healthcare” seekers in Australia that a certain degree of reciprocity “over there” would be simpler and fairer??

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Could not one argue that due to a certain degree of freeloading by “ineligible for free healthcare” seekers in Australia that a certain degree of reciprocity “over there” would be simpler and fairer??

It does apply in most Western countries. Emergency health care is provided first. Payment sought later. For some Euro countries there is reciprocal medicare benefits. For other countries (like the USA) you could in theory just walk away like you could in Australia.

But I'm guessing most of us, at some stage in our lives, have done something which in hindsight seemed like a good idea at the time but was probably not so much. I don't think these kids are different to most others.

 

[OZDUCK]

Reminds me of the time my office received a baggy containing strange white powder. Unlike the back-packing 9, snorting wasn't our first thought.

Turned out to be plaster of Paris/concrete for sent to us in error. We even masked up and gloves to handle it (finally, that spill kit came in handy).

Crazy (dumb) kids.

The best time I had with "powder" was in Customs at the old Perth Mail Exchange in the 1970's. An envelope had some sort of powder in it so it was held and a card sent to the recipient to come in and tell us what it was. In due course a middle aged lady came in with the card & I got the envelope and we start to discuss it over the counter.

She obviously quite honestly had no idea what it was and she actually poured it onto the steel-topped counter and we stared at it and both wondered aloud what it is. (This is well before the days of anthrax scares or quick drug testing kits.) After a while she finds a small note inside to the effect that as she knows her "Uncle Joe" had recently died and as she was his favourite niece the family thought she would want some of his ashes.

I am not sure who was the more horrified of the pair of us but I quickly brushed up what was left of Uncle Joe and put him into her somewhat unwilling care. She left with much protestations about why on earth anyone would do such a thing and I went and had a good wash-up.

 

[Pushka]

The best time I had with "powder" was in Customs at the old Perth Mail Exchange in the 1970's. An envelope had some sort of powder in it so it was held and a card sent to the recipient to come in and tell us what it was. In due course a middle aged lady came in with the card & I got the envelope and we start to discuss it over the counter.

She obviously quite honestly had no idea what it was and she actually poured it onto the steel-topped counter and we stared at it and both wondered aloud what it is. (This is well before the days of anthrax scares or quick drug testing kits.) After a while she finds a small note inside to the effect that as she knows her "Uncle Joe" had recently died and as she was his favourite niece the family thought she would want some of his ashes.

I am not sure who was the more horrified of the pair of us but I quickly brushed up what was left of Uncle Joe and put him into her somewhat unwilling care. She left with much protestations about why on earth anyone would do such a thing and I went and had a good wash-up.

That is gold.

 

[Flying Fox]

Repaid using the money they'll have to raise how? Working here illegally, since you've confiscated their passports so they can't go home?

I'm sure that they have credit cards and parents etc. They have the money to travel.

 

[Denali]

I'm sure that they have credit cards and parents etc. They have the money to travel.

Or they are Beg-Packing: Backpackers begging for money to travel are a disgrace

I was watching The Embassy a couple of weeks ago and you had Dumb and Dumbette back packing because the call to be free was strong, even though the mind was not. The plan was to stay at either free or extremely cheap places and of course, wallets ect stolen and gee, no insurance.

They pretty much high-tailed it back home after they finally got replacement passports (but had to get help from a random aussie first).

As someone old enough to be a grandma, if my kid/grandkid was stupid enough to take off without insurance, guess what they would be getting for birthday/Christmas? An annual travel insurance policy.

 

[Quickstatus]

I'm sure that they have credit cards and parents etc. They have the money to travel.

Yes but how many times have we seen travellers at airports arguing that they don’t have any money to pay for excess luggage etc. Most will say they don’t have credit cards. As soon as you hear that you know you won’t be paid.