Janet Feldman has been paying for private insurance for years. She does so even though Australia has a robust public insurance option. But when she was diagnosed with a serious illness, her doctor told her not to use the private insurance she was paying for. She stuck to public insurance — and she’s very glad she did, because using the private system in Australia can have some serious disadvantages.

In fact, so many Australians prefer the public system to the private that it’s become a problem for the stability of the two.

Australia’s public-private system looks a lot like proposals from a number of US presidential candidates, including former Vice President Joe Biden and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg. In this episode, Vox health care reporter Dylan Scott continues his international investigation of health care across the world, with a stop in Australia. He meets with doctors, researchers, patients — even a robot — and returns to the US with evidence that could both hearten and concern candidates like public-private boosters like Biden or Buttigieg.

We always want to hear from you! Please send comments and questions to impact@vox.com.

Links:

Dylan’s deep dive into Australian health care
Stephen Duckett’s working paper on public and private insurance in Australia
Dylan’s piece on the three different kinds of health care plan floated by the Democratic candidates
Vox’s guide to where 2020 candidates stand on policy

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Host:

Jillian Weinberger, @jbweinz

About Vox:

Vox is a news network that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines.

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