The Problems with Socialized Health Care AustraliaAustralia's universal health care scheme is relatively new (introduced in 1983, which built on the 1974 Medibank program). As with all socialized health care systems, there is a mixture of public versus private care (approximately 30% of Australians also retain private health insurance). As a result, the private patients receive better care than their medicare counterparts. The salary caps and artificial increase in demand for care that always occur in a national health care system are resulting in predictable physician shortages. Mental patients face bed shortage - Clara Pirani, July 4, 2005 [News.com.au] Public...