Oof yeah in fairness I’m low income so I get bulk billed! The wait time can definitely vary. The thing I find is that GPs seem to spread their time over various clinics now so if you want to see a regular one (which I do due to chronic conditions) it can be a wait because they’re only in a couple of days a week! That’s frustrating.

I find if I just just want to see anyone for something very routine the wait can be anything from a day to a week. That’s definitely got worse over the years - I remember as a kid being picked up from school sick and I’d be in with my regular GP the same afternoon 😅

Your urgent care is so much!!!? I’m in Vic. I’m not sure how it works there. Here we have after hour urgent care clinics (quite recent, they only started a couple of years ago and popping up more places slowly) and I’ve had to go to those twice and again, free. Which I think is for everyone because it’s essentially a don’t go to the ER, go to these clinics if you’re not actually dying lol. I think I waited about 1-2 hours there. The waits no fun obviously but I do like that those clinics exist now, less intense than the ER can be.

I’ve had to do hospital without private and yeah, it’s not great but I don’t know what it’s like in other countries so hard to compare there. I’ve also seen others in private and the biggest difference is getting your own room (and if you’re getting surgery obviously choice there, I’ve just never had to have serious surgery!) it still seems like a pretty awful experience.

Mental health public though is a disaster - I did it once very briefly as a teenager and then private (as a public patient, I was very “lucky”) as an adult. I’d never do either again but particularly public.