Australia

3533 readers

250 users here now

A place to discuss Australia and important Australian issues.

Before you post:

If you're posting anything related to:

The Environment, post it to Aussie Environment
Politics, post it to Australian Politics
World News/Events, post it to World News
A question to Australians (from outside) post it to Ask an Australian

If you're posting Australian News (not opinion or discussion pieces) post it to Australian News

Rules

This community is run under the rules of aussie.zone. In addition to those rules:

When posting news articles use the source headline and place your commentary in a separate comment

Banner Photo

Congratulations to @[email protected] who had the most upvoted submission to our banner photo competition

Recommended and Related Communities

Be sure to check out and subscribe to our related communities on aussie.zone:

Plus other communities for sport and major cities.

https://aussie.zone/communities

Moderation

Since Kbin doesn't show Lemmy Moderators, I'll list them here. Also note that Kbin does not distinguish moderator comments.

Additionally, we have our instance admins: @[email protected] and @[email protected]

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Having a low income is like being a kid again – though now every expense comes with guilt | Deirdre Fidge (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

14 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago (2 children)

It does. Our healthcare is subsidised by the government. A visit to the doctor isn't free, though - as most (almost all) doctors charge more for a consult than what the government covers. Someone struggling financially as much as the author of this article should be eligible for a Health Care Card though, which should give an almost 100% discount on all things medical.

I don't know that the point of the article was healthcare specifically, or more of a "people are poor, yo!" piece. Because ultimately there are times where people do genuinely struggle financially and may not avail themselves of all the support services the government provides, because they see their circumstances as temporary, or are too embarrassed to admit they need help or other personal reasons.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

Someone struggling financially as much as the author of this article should be eligible for a Health Care Card though, which should give an almost 100% discount on all things medical.

Did you mean "should" as in "should in a perfect world"? Because the Health Care Card definitely does not get anywhere close to providing a 100% discount on healthcare.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

It's a bit about the psychology of poverty as well, in that the societal view of being poor has an undercurrent of victim blaming, and individuals often absorb that and feel a sense of guilt and shame for something that isn't their fault. Even more so with people on welfare, although the article didn't address that directly.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

I know that for myself, when I've been between jobs (sometimes for a month or two at a time) over the years, I haven't bothered dealing with Centrelink etc, because the dole wouldn't even cover my rent. I just lived off savings and got myself back out there. Also had help from family a couple of times.