Here's a good little insight into how bullshit life is in Aus, in this regard, right now (without having any sort of "Social Security Numbers", it's worth pointing out).
I have an appointment this week with a private doctor. In order to have my private health cover, which I already pay for, cover part of the costs of this very expensive appointment, I have to download three apps, one for the insurer, one for the government health care system (Medicare), and one for "MyGov", which you need to use to even access the Medicare one.
I then have to "link" the Medicare and MyGov accounts, which is an extremely tedious process, and can only be done via computer. For some reason, my name is listed slightly differently on one of the two (middle names...), which may mean that I have to either go in in person to a so-called "service centre", to sort the shit out, or else be on hold on the phone for six hours, in order to get that "fixed"...
Then there's Uni, which now also requires me to download an MFA app to my phone (specific to them, of course. They just had to make their own), in order to access literally anything. But that's not enough - oh no, you also have to have access to any old phone you have previously used, and have the app on there, in order to set up your new one, to then jump through 10 more hoops, and then maybe, just maybe, you might be able to get in to your Uni "account" and actually do shit like enrol, and access email...
And this is the bare minimum shit I have to have on my phone, just to be able to do basic shit, let alone banking or state government services (licensing et al), Covid apps/proof of "vax status", etc.
I'm so fucking sick of this nonsense. It takes up space, and time, and is just so... Unnecessary, frankly. Let alone when one of these "services" decides to arbitrarily update, or stop working...
Grr...
It's all utter crap, and they're trying to cut costs on employees through shitty automation. And you can bet your ass that most of the data you submit through these apps and "portals" is going to be sold off to the highest bidder without your express consent.
Or lost.
It's not always sold, sometimes it's just so poorly kept that it gets lost or deleted and then no one gets anything out of it, but it's your fault for not keeping their systems up to date.
It's funny, because it's barely "automation", in a sense. It's mostly just cutting out any "human element" and making the customer (in this case, me) do all the work themselves... :-/
Like, it's "automated" in the sense that it's all tech-based and online, but it still requires me to do most of the work myself, on my end, rather than their stupid system being able to figure it out, SMH...
But yeah, I 100% agree. It's just that I think it may be arguably even worse than that. It's merely putting everything, all responsibility and time put in, back onto the customer, without any "cost reduction" or "enhanced service" on my end, if that makes sense...
Much like my bank cutting my local branch and then removing its ATMs entirely. Saves them money, I suppose, but fuck is it ever inconvenient...
"Just do all your banking online", they say. Oh yeah, perfect, I'm totally fine with paying the exact same fees while getting almost zero service from the people holding onto my money.... /s
Oh totally. The "automation" is basically the equivalent of an answering machine with a lot of extra steps. I think the intent is specifically to slow down, discourage, and delay customers/patients, so that there's less demand on the company and its employees.
Seems to work for the aboriginals right?
Communist bureaucratic hell?
What I've observed is most tech is based on what the creator believes tech should work like. So a school, which is a giant bureaucracy will try to create a badly designed version of that.
When I was a Cub Scout leader, the scouting website was horrendous. It's entirely because leaders for scouting like outdoors and hate tech. So, the website worked like everything they hated.
In Australia, state governments and government departments seem to view each other as “rivals”, so instead of collaborating to produce the best UI, and then modifying to fit their own purposes, they either design their own systems from the ground up, or buy them in from various overseas countries (generally Europe or Canada), and then modify them…
Thus everything is a complete clusterfuck, and you are literally starting over completely each time you have to use the different system (say, one state’s “Department of Justice”, and then that same state’s “Department of Transport Main Roads and Infrastructure”, which is like, the DMV)…
It’s fucking insane. Ludicrous, even…
This actually ended up being much harder than even I initially anticipated...
Everything is layers upon layers of bullshit to confirm literally anything, and then the "provider" doesn't want to play ball, but also wants payment upfront, long before the appointment...
Such utter bullshit. "Socialised" (but still expensive out of pocket) healthcare for you, everyone!
And yes, this is with (also fairly expensive) insurance. It's still this bad...
Smdh.
The problem is that those doctors remain islands in a corrupt bureaucratic sea.
Even if you pay them cash directly, you still need to maintain health insurance for the lab, the X-ray/MRI facility, the pharmacy, the hospital, the operating room, the ER, other specialists, etc.
I'm not saying there aren't private options.
My point is that it's not as simple as your doctor going independent and extricating yourself from the system completely since the services they can provide you without relying on the very system you are both trying to leave are very limited in scope even if the effort is admirable.
Too bad you still need an insurance plan so preexisting-condition fats get their bags of IV insulin.