Answer:
I am in Australia. Here we have both Government funded health care and private insurance. I had surgery done on 3 different occasions funded by the government. twice for carpel tunnel and one elbow replacement and ulnar nerve decompression. these operations are seen as elective surgery ( the problem may hurt, but it wont kill you if you have to wait a while to have it done). So in true political style there is a waiting time, i my case it took just under 3 months to get onto the chopping block. every one bitches about the waiting list but in the end the work gets done before any one dies. if the surgery is urgent say heart bypass or something there is no waiting time. Naturally you are referred to a surgeon or you can find one that does public hospital work. You don't have the same amount of choice as you would get with private insurance. with private insurance, You are seen to immediately, you have more control over the surgeon you deal with. the work is usually done in a private hospital. and the whole procedure even after having paid your insurance premium faithfully for years still leads to more out of pocket expense's. The private insurance companies would survive however they would not be able to hold the public over a barrel any more.