Long public-hospital waits for serious illness, no navigation for cross-border self-funded care

When cancer is suspected and imaging is needed to confirm it, public-system waits routinely run into years, so people first pay a few thousand dollars out of pocket for a scan in the private sector or across the border, then take the report back into the public system to follow up on medication. Patients' families describe this alternating public-private care path — getting a second opinion and imaging privately, then returning to the public sector for medication on a public-hospital doctor's referral letter — as often the most cost-effective, yet it is passed on entirely by word of mouth.

The problem is that whether imaging reports obtained across the border can connect to eHealth, whether English or mainland reports will be accepted by public hospitals, and whether to choose a protection-type or savings-type medical insurance — the relevant information is scattered everywhere, with no neutral navigation. For families facing serious illness, the care strategy itself has become a problem to be solved in a race against the disease.