Streaky Bay is at the forefront of a national crisis: inadequate government funding is exacerbating a shortage of critical healthcare workers like Dr Bradley; wait times are ballooning; doctors are beginning to write their own rules on fees, and costs to patients are skyrocketing.
A once-revered universal healthcare system is crumbling at every level, sometimes barely getting by on the sheer willpower of doctors and local communities.
As a result, more and more Australians, regardless of where they live, are delaying or going without the care they need.
I have experienced what you say.
But I also haven’t found it to be the rule.
Rural areas are very “in vs out-group”, but in the mdiwest you can join the in-group if you try.
In the south, it’s your church and your skin color, that’s it.
You’re 100% spot on about the hustle though.