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"Paying one's way"
The
Courier-Mail J. HARPER (Letters, Sept 22) says he "knows of no doctor who, if a person were in real trouble and could not pay immediately, would turn him or her away". Having worked for two decades as a doctor, I can state with confidence that doctors don't often turn them away because their receptionists do it for them. Our health system is increasingly based on one's ability to pay. It is also structured to maximise the income of doctors. Private practice is more lucrative than public practice, so specialists are strangely unavailable for public sessions but can see patients privately with little delay. Unfortunately, the people who are turned away for lack of cash rarely get to tell their stories to the media.
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