There's a hybrid system in place at the moment. The 'public system' is government run and funded by tax dollars. The 'private system' is akin to the pre-Obama US system, with individuals paying an insurance company for policy coverage. I believe your yearly tax return is adjusted so you don't get charged the 'Medicare Levy' if you pay an insurer for a policy.
It's widely acknowledged that the quality of care is superior with an insurance company. I don't have it myself, however, which may be foolish but I'm idealogically opposed to insurance companies in general and to privatized, profit motivated medical care in particular.
I haven't had any serious issues yet so can't really speak to the effectiveness of the public system for those in dire need. Years ago, when I was in the UK, I availed myself of their public system to determine if the woman I had been placing myself within was the cause of the substantial red dot complete with a white pustule center which had appeared about a half an inch north of the basal emergence of my member, and pretty much exactly where the condom ends because they only make condoms 10 inches long instead of 10.5. Anyway, the doctor declared it to be a zit, which was embarrassing, but not as mortifying as when he stretched out my shrunken rubbery unmanhood like a bungee cord and popped the zit between his other hand's thumb and forefinger. It wasn't an experience I'd recommend but I can't fault the NHS who didn't charge me anything and whose employees waited politely for me to go before bursting into fits of laughter. I doubt AOC would be nearly as accomodating.
Thanks. It seemed like it would be in the public square for all to watch.
I think you might like this description of Samuel Pepys having a bladder stone removed:
The procedure, described by Pepys as being "cut of the stone", was conducted without anaesthetics or antiseptics and involved restraining the patient with ropes and four strong men. The surgeon then made an incision along the perineum (between the scrotum and the anus), about three inches (8 cm) long and deep enough to cut into the bladder. The stone was removed through this opening with pincers from below, assisted, from above, by a tool inserted into the bladder through the penis. A detailed description can be found in Tomalin (2002)
The stone was described as being the size of a tennis ball. Presumably a real tennis ball, which is slightly smaller than a modern lawn tennis ball, but still an unusually large stone"
Pepys wrote in his diary on Monday 26 March 1660--
"This day it is two years since it pleased God that I was cut of the stone at Mrs. Turner's in Salisbury Court. And did resolve while I live to keep it a festival, as I did the last year at my house, and for ever to have Mrs. Turner and her company with me."
