text: First, it is illegal for a private clinic to charge the public system for a service if they also charge the patient for the same service.  Either you are all in or all out on a given case. The public reimbursement doesn't cover the cost of running a private surgical clinic - this is normal because if a patient is operated on in a public hospital, the hospital receives lump sum funding to cover this so the surgeon isn't assuming these costs, so they shouldn't get extra for costs not assumed.
  
  I hate the "jumping the line" statement.  The government is deliberately limiting the amount of OR time so surgeons cannot handle the patient caseloads.  From a professional point of view, can you imagine how unsatisfying it is to have a 2 year wait list of patients you cannot help because of bureaucratic nonsense?  Surgeons are trying to find a workaround for this and governments are letting them because they don't want to pay for what is needed.  That's why the clinics aren't being shut down.