Lacessit

You were lucky, many doctors are abandoning bulk billing in Australia. Why would a doctor bulk bill, with all the administrative BS, when they can charge more as a private practitioner? One example: One specialist bulk bills, I think she gets $80 for a consultation. OTOH, a hernia surgeon charged me $280, of which I got refunded $37 by Medicare. In my area, there are 6 medical clinics. 5 of them do not bulk bill, the sixth is not accepting new patients.

Check the medical websites yourself. Perhaps they are the ones adding on the extra zero, I'm not.

I had a PET scan in Australia, cost AUD 1200, state of the art. My private health insurance paid for everything.

Do you know what age the equipment is? Or how much it cost? Prices for that type of equipment are $75,000 to $150,000 for a base model, $1.7 - 2.5 million for something with all the bells and whistles. I should imagine cost recovery is the focus for the more expensive systems.

Not according to the Thai private hospital websites I have visited.

What do they do to it to make it so bad? Cooking food is not rocket science.

You may be right, it is tiresome rebutting repeated bogus claims and misinformation. At least I now know the purpose of the two year rule, to prevent Australians from claiming the pension and taking it back overseas immediately. Real dog in the manger stuff, with the dual purpose of employing more bureaucrats to police it. IMO it would fall apart if subjected to a stringent cost benefit analysis. I mean, what is the contribution to the Aussie economy by people waiting for their pension during those two years, against the drag on the welfare budget by bureaucrats who are employed to keep the system operating? AFAIK no other country does this to their citizens, although I understand the Brits freeze the pension of expats, with no COL indexation.

The link directs me to a disclaimer, no information of substance on the topic. Note the link says "former residents." The devil is in the detail. If one has lived overseas for an extended period of time, AND is deemed non-resident for tax purposes, the two year rule applies. If the applicant maintains an Australian residential address ( I did ) and is present in Australia on the day they become eligible for the OAP, they get the pension. Full or part, doesn't matter. I did not have to wait for two years. As I said before, an appointment with an FSO is what is needed.

I suggest you check carefully with Centrelink. Get an appointment with a Financial Services Officer, they are much more competent than Centrelink front-line staff. I might be wrong on this; however, AFAIK you can be away from Australia as much as you want during said 6 years. The critical thing is to be on Australian soil on the date you become eligible for the OAP. If you are not, the two year rule kicks in. Also check whether you have lived in Australia for 35 years prior to getting the pension, otherwise the pension may be reduced in line with the number of years under the magic number. I am wondering how many people were trapped by the 2-year rule, when Scotty locked us all out during COVID.

What would you expect? Immigration, homelessness and drugs are dull subjects compared to the media profits to be made by following the Trump circus. Cue Sean Hannity, publicly supporting Trump to keep his audience of the unwashed, while privately despising him. Your post is incorrect, no-one has tried to put Trump behind bars in civil cases. Remove him from office or get money owed back out of him, yes.

Everyone is different, cannabis really does nothing for me. Interferes with my balance. IME morphine is ineffective too. OTOH, I have found kratom is marvelous stuff for my back and legs. Half a cup of kratom extract, and I am swinging a golf club as if I was a teenager.

Melbourne is as cold as a well-digger's posterior. I could not imagine surviving here for 2 years. My sister has just had a rent increase of $170 a week. For me, the difference is running an old bomb of a car. Not close to public transport. If I was renting, 50-60% of my pension would go on that expenditure alone. In Thailand, I have two good cars and a scooter. I pay less per month in rent than I would for a week in Melbourne. Damn sure I would not have a swimming pool either. I am wondering if the bureaucrats who came up with the two year rule were ever asked to justify it to the public, because I cannot see the sense of it. It's good you can serve out your two years of the prison colony with equanimity, I'm just grateful I did not have to.

Trump has won many legal battles. The difference this time is a criminal trial, not a civil case. I wonder if the gullible who put in the donations ( $4 million?) realise their money is going straight to his legal team. I can't imagine there is a single lawyer in America, who would take on Trump as a client, without payment up front. It's interesting Trump kept his mouth shut during his courtroom appearance, no doubt following the advice of his lawyers. He can't intimidate judges as he could the Republicans during his impeachments, and their response would be swift. Trump complains the legal system is weaponized against him, after doing exactly the same with the DOJ when he was President. Som nam na. This is only the beginning, Merrick Garland is waiting in the wings. So is Georgia.

It is certainly undesirable for anyone who owns property in a low-lying coastal region. Check out how insurance companies are hiking their premiums in response to that, or in areas of Australia vulnerable to bushfires. Climate change is not a matter of belief. It is evidence-based science governed by the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics, which no-one has ever succeeded in disproving. I was one of the first people in Australia to put solar panels on the roof of my house, so I put my money where my mouth is. Nowadays, the fossil-fuelled power companies are faced with gold-plated assets and a shrinking market. The technologies are there to convert renewable energy into transportable fuel, retarded by lobby groups and venal politicians. Market forces will win out eventually. Science does not care what you believe.

There's a number of ailments that are part and parcel of getting old. My PET scan recently showed I had gallstones, a very minor collapse of lung alveoli, and coronary calcification. I'll start worrying about them if they cause pain, or otherwise affect my quality of life. Business as usual otherwise.

As I understand it, the subject has been removed from some syllabi as too difficult. I doubt a biology major would get exposed to it. Possibly it's allied to the touchy-feely mindset of rewarding students for participation. Back in my day, one either passed the end of year exam, or they didn't.

Ah, the "natural cycle " argument, which ignores the evidence climate change today is caused by anthropomorphic emissions of carbon dioxide.

Climate change is not dogma. It is evidence-based science responding to the First and Second Law of Thermodynamics. Even among scientists, thermodynamics is limited to a smaller amount of students. You are posting the classic diversions of a climate denier. Look over there at plastic waste, or Siberia will become inhabitable. Carbon dioxide as plant food is another. The main concern of informed scientists is the "Butterfly Effect " first referred to by the German novelist Schiller a few centuries ago. An insignificant change causing a hugely destructive event thousands of kilometres away. In the case of climate change, albedo and clathrates are the potential triggers of the butterfly effect. Pro tip: Don't buy real estate in Bangkok. One metre above sea level is not my idea of a safety margin.

You need to make a will. Immigration will not accept another person on the account.

The public health system in Australia is a train wreck. My daughter-in-law has been waiting 6 months for an initial consultation for a bung knee with a specialist, she may be waiting another year for the actual surgery. I have top level private health cover in Australia. I had a PET scan within two weeks of landing, free of charge. In Thailand, the cheapest quote I could find was USD 15,000. Your opinions are way off the mark.

Short answer, yes. Until I no longer have quality of life. I am 79, and far from disabled. Ask my girlfriend.

Lack of consideration for others is an attribute of many. Is it such a burden to wear a mask for an hour when someone else requests it, because they are concerned you are a plague carrier? Whether the plane has filtered air is irrelevant, the pathway between your exhalations and a person sitting next to you is what's at issue. Do you speak sufficient Thai to explain you are not infectious? Unbelievably selfish.

Unfortunately, there are too many people who do not comprehend if Ukraine falls, it's the end of national sovereignty and a rules-based order. Putin will not stop there, he wants to go all the way back to the Cold War borders. He has repeatedly said so. Trump has long admired Putin, and wants the same powers. Be careful what you wish for.

Several dozen people is what most people would call far from being a rally, although no doubt Trump in his usual fashion would inflate that number to thousands. IMO it's an indication some of his fanbase has evaporated.

None of the above. Boiled water, safest form there is short of distilled.