We seem to have a similar system in Oz. we pay a 1.5% Medicare levy on our income which entitles everyone (not just those paying the levy) to free public hospital treatment and subsidised or free GP visits. There is no wait time or means test. These are standard Resident Rights.

Then we have compulsory Superannuation which our employers pay into at 9% of our income (recently told its going to 12%) also it's the employees prerogative to add to that Superannuation payment. If you do add extra money it generally pays for Income Protection Insurance (but that may depend on the Super Company you choose to use). The money that we (the employee) contributes can either be sent to Super before tax is withheld which lowers our total earnings and income tax paid or we can claim the contributions as a tax deduction.

I don't know any employers who pay Health Insurance for their employees, it probably does happen but it's not customary. We choose whether to have Health Insurance or not and its not cheap here either. $Ks per year. Health insurance allows us to use a private hospital with a doctor of our choice, obtain treatment sooner and increasingly commonly, allows for some treatment simply not available in the Public Health sector.

My mother had renal failure last year and collapsed at home, she was taken by ambulance to the local Public Hospital where they did bugger all for her for 5 days. The doctor took me aside and told me that they were not going to offer her dialysis and that they were going to palliate her and let "nature take its course". I had been paying into a Health Insurance company for my parents, so I had her transferred her to a Private Hospital, they treated her aggressively, gave her dialysis and here she is a year later...alive and well and happy.

The employer in Oz pays 10 sick days per year which you can accrue year after year. If you get sick, use all your sick leave, have no income protection insurance you can apply for Sickness Benefit from the Government. It generally takes a few weeks to be approved and its a pretty small amount. Something like $200 a week I think.(could be less) but then you are entitled to subsidised medicine as well. I'm not sure if there is a time limit on Sickness Benefit. If this takes you below a certain income level for the size of your family then you generally get low income assistance as well. Things like rent assistance, transport assistance etc.

It would work okay if we didn't have people who spend their entire lives living off Government benefits and giving nothing back to society.

Dear Honey - Re "brain fog", that happened to me when I had 10% blasts and it went back to normal when they dropped. I, like you, was a public servant in a job where I did a lot of writing - I designed and developed training materials for firefighters, as well as being responsible for helping firefighting trainers to improve their skills. It was quite a high pressure job and it's scary feeling as though you are mentally "swimming in mud".

My workplace allowed me to work from home 2 days a week which reduced the fatigue from travelling an hour each way to work in the city. I retired in Feb this year after opting to take my remaining long service leave on 1/2 pay for 9 months. That gave me the opportunity to consider whether I should go back to work or retire. I chose the latter because I was 65 by then.

Sudoku is really good brain exercise and I regularly do puzzles.

Cheryl I love puzzles too, but I prefer letters rather than numbers. A good game of scrabble for me.

Honey <==== dreams of retiring to Margaret River

I have Scrabble and Sudoku on my iPad. Keeps me sane in hospital.

I don't like Sudoku or numbers. I like cryptic crosswords (provided they aren't too way out). I should get a book of crosswords for in hospital. I don't have an I Pad.
Glenda

Try these Glenda
 

Try these for something different. I had work obsessed doing these a few years back. Some are easy some hard. Think books, sport, geography maths anything really. Tip to start think of obvious ones first, then look at not so popular letters like Z or J.

24 H in a D means 24 Hours in a Day, what do the rest of these mean?


26 L of the A
7 D of the W
7 W of the W
12 S of the Z
66 B of the B
52 C in a P (WJs)
13 S in the USF
18 H on a G C
39 B of the O T
5 T on a F
90 D in a R A
3 B M (S H T R)
32 is the T in D F at which W F
15 P in a R T
3 W on a T
100 C in a R
11 P in a F (S) T
12 M in a Y
8 T on a O
29 D in F in a L Y
27 B in the N T
365 D in a Y
13 L in a B D
52 W in a Y
9 L of a C
60 M in a H
23 P of C in the H B
64 S on a C B
9 P in S A
6 B to an O in C
1000 Y in a M
15 M on a D M C

No cheating! lol ;) Have fun.

I like cryptically too but no good at the toughies. I feel very bright if I get one answer in the Times.

I've printed out the page for later. :)

Chirley,

That's hilarious! I should proofread my posts. I think that nonsense was caused by an accidental paste of a phrase I was Googling. I've been helping my wife look for a long arm quilter.

Take care!

Greg