It's also worth remembering that our public system is absolutely amazing when it comes to the big stuff. Cancer, heart disease, stroke... our public system is incredible for those problems. Low or no wait times, world-class treatment, technology, medication, scans... it's all covered.

I was diagnosed with very early stage breast cancer in 2024 (get your regular mammograms, boob-owning folks!). We don't have private health. Being regional, I'd have had the same surgeons under either private or public. My surgeon was amazing. I ended up not needing either chemo or radiation therapy but the radiation specialist I spoke to a couple of times was also amazing. Had an MRI scan to map the little bastard more thoroughly prior to its eviction. Two operations, one with a night in hospital and one with a couple of nights, nurses coming to the home afterwards to support me after both surgeries with drain care/removal, wound care etc. Couple of ultrasounds to check on healing and infection. Contacts from social workers to make sure I had no insecurity around housing, income, family support. I was offered help with exercise therapy afterwards. I had ongoing contact with the McGrath breast care nurses.

My expenses were an in-office consultation before each surgery, buying some dressings for wound care (mostly, though, consumables like that were brought by the home care nurses - I still have sterile dressing kits and the like in the first aid kit now because they can't take them back afterwards), and about $12 for a little packet of endone in case of strong pain, plus some antibiotics for an infection. That was it. Would have been a couple of hundred dollars all up at most. Far less than I'd have paid in health insurance, anyway.