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S2018 E16 Mind the Gap
本集简介

On Four Corners, our investigation tells the story of your out of pocket medical expenses.

"You go for years paying premium fees into a fund. You call on it once and you're out of pocket. It sort of doesn't add up to me!" Patient

We've put you, the patient, at the centre of this investigation. Nine weeks ago we placed a call out, across ABC programs and social media, asking you to send us your bills. Hundreds of people across the country responded.

"The results are shocking and certainly show how out of pocket expenses are undermining the Australian private health care system." Dr Norman Swan

In this joint Four Corners investigation with Dr Norman Swan from RN's Health Report, the program examines what's driving these out of pocket expenses.

"As doctors we frequently make decisions based on what we think our patients need and can afford." Doctors' representative

Millions of Australians fork out big money for private health insurance believing it will give them their choice of specialist and Rolls Royce service. Yet many, at a time of great personal crisis, are saddled with bills for treatment, leaving them thousands of dollars out of pocket and wondering why they bothered paying for insurance at all.

"You live in this world where you have Medicare, a universal health fund, and you've got a private health fund, you're paying into that substantial fees, and low and behold, you're $18,000 out of pocket when you have one operation." Patient

Many blame Medicare and the private health funds, but often the cause of out of pocket expenses lies elsewhere and this eye-opening program reveals some hard truths for patients.

"Where you live can have an influence on whether you're charged a gap and also the treatment that you're trying to access." Health insurance industry spokesperson

For patients to get the best quality care for the money they pay, they need to rethink what high charging specialists actually deliver.

"Some people out in the community feel that someone who's got very lush premises as their rooms, who charge high fees are clearly much better than other surgeons. There is no evidence that's the case. I think that's very important the public understands that." Surgeons' representative

上一集
2018/05/21 S2018 E15
Complicit

This episode of Four Corners screens a shortened version of the 2017 human rights documentary Complicit, directed by Heather White & Lynn Zhang.

Filmed over 3 years it investigates the Chinese workers paying the price for our mobile phone obsession.

"There were iPhone screens and Nokia screens…I held the phone screen in my left hand, and a piece of cloth in my right hand… Wiping was the only thing I did besides eating and sleeping." Teenage worker

Mobile phones, smartphones and tablets have revolutionised the way we communicate but the technology we are addicted to has had toxic consequences.

"I knew we worked with chemicals, but I had no idea that it's poison." Young worker

China produces approximately 90% of the world's consumer electronics. The factories making the components for these electronic goods are filled with young workers. Some have been exposed to poisonous chemicals, with devastating results.

"Many co-workers developed the exact same symptoms. When I walked, it looked like I had uneven legs. It would take 10 minutes to take a two-minute walk. My legs felt too heavy to move." Worker

This investigation, filmed secretly over four years, exposed the use of harmful chemicals in the factories producing the products many of us use. Hidden cameras captured the working conditions inside the factories churning out these products.

"It was the cleaning solution he used, which contained benzene, when he was working at the electronics factory that caused his disease." Father of sick worker

The film charts the growing realisation amongst the workers that their illnesses stem from their work and follows their fight for compensation.

"After we discovered so many workers with leukemia…more media reports followed up and showed that these workers were chemically poisoned." Worker activist

The landmark investigation led Apple to ban the use of benzene, a known carcinogen, and n-hexane, a chemical that damages the nervous system.

But the ban does not apply to subcontractors who make up two-thirds of Apple's supply chain. And around 500 other chemicals are still used to produce electronics, mostly in the developing world, where there are few or no regulations to protect the workers who make them.

"Many of the workers that I've helped got occupational diseases due to exposure to toxic chemicals. Many are from the electronics industry. They made cell phones, computers, semiconductors etc." Worker activist