In addition to what slazer said, in Australia once you earn over a certain amount you get hit with an extra tax if you don't take out private health. The conservative coalition brought that in a long time ago because their donor mates in private health asked them to ruin our public health care and this was their first step towards that.

I still have private cover as it seems like the least bad option even though it pisses me off. I guess that's the point.