The comparison is meaningless: the patient did not pay anything in this case, but the cost is astronomical, the problem is with the cost not with who is paying. By the way of comparison, I just paid approximately $25 for a bit simple test (bacteria, not virii, but it included sensibility to antibiotics) in Europe last week. Out of the pocket, waiting weeks for the free public system was too much to be effective.

The article tries to make the sub-point that the swab was somehow an excessive test - I was trying to highlight that this is not the case, which makes the overcharging even more egregious.

Also to clarify, in Australia there is no cost to anyone with permanent residency status, whether they are insured or not.

I now understand what was your point.

Also to clarify, there is no cost for anyone (EU residents) here too if you use the public health system, but if you cannot wait till you're dead then you can use the (optional) private system and pay for that.

Last time I went to Slovenia I got strep throat. I went to the public doctor, on a Sunday, waited about 25 minutes and got a throat swab and a prescription for $14. And I was a tourist!

Well for one thing our population is over 12x that of Australia, harder to govern on a federal level. For another we are likely much less healthy than Australia. Thirdly, medical lobbying by the AMA and doctors being treated like holy men and getting a pass for said lobbying.

It's a good point but the amount and payer for coverage is independent of the fraud that happened here.