Public hospital

A public hospital or government hospital is a hospital which is owned by a government and receives government funding. In some countries, this type of hospital provides medical care free of charge, the cost of which is covered by government reimbursement.

In Australia, public hospitals are operated and funded by each individual state's health department. The federal government also contributes funding. Services in public hospitals for all Australian citizens and permanent residents are fully subsidized by the federal government's Medicare Universal Healthcare program. Hospitals in Australia treat all Australian citizens and permanent residents regardless of their age, income, or social status.

Emergency Departments are almost exclusively found in public hospitals. Private hospitals rarely operate emergency departments, and patients treated at these private facilities are billed for care. Some costs, however (pathology, X-ray) may qualify for billing under Medicare.

Where patients hold private health insurance, after initial treatment by a public hospital's emergency department, the patient has the option of being transferred to a private hospital.

The Brazilian health system is a mix composed by public hospitals, non-profit philanthropic hospitals, and private hospitals. The majority of low- and-medium income population uses services provided by a public hospitals run by either State or by the municipality. Since the inception of 1988 Federal Constitution, health care is a universal right for everyone living in Brazil: citizens, permanent residents, and foreigner. For that reason, Brazilian government created a national public health insurance system called SUS (Sistema Unico de Saude, Unified Health System) where all public funded hospitals (public and philanthropic entities)receive payments based on number of patients and procedures performed. Also, hospitals and health clinics are built by government in all three levels.

In general, all patients are supposed to have a global coverage including emergency care, preventive medicine, complex procedures, diagnostic procedures (blood exams, x-rays, CT-scan, etc.), surgeries (excluding cosmetic procedures), and medicines need to treat their condition. Because of the limitation in the budget, those services are often unavailable in most part of the country, in exception in large metropolis like São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte. Even in those metropolis, the access to some complex health care may take months if not completely ignored. However, patients that sued the government were able to get their treatment covered by the SUS, even with experimental therapeutics.

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