’Baffling’ $17k funding loophole costing Aussie women

What happens then, when you find a lump? Well, it’s straightforward — you go to the GP without delay.Breast cancer is largely seen as a disease that affects post-menopausal women and while the average age of diagnosis is 61, about 840 women under the age of 40 are diagnosed with breast cancer every year in Australia.Breast Cancer Network Australia

My GP charged $90 for the consultation and I got about $35 back from Medicare. I felt entirely silly wasting that money on a pea-sized lump that was probably nothing. In the months prior to this my mother, mother-in-law and my aunt had all had biopsies on breast lumps of their own. They were alland the only cost to them was parking fees at the BreastScreen clinic.

That’s the thing I’ve since discovered about cancer, from talking to many young women like me. The financial side of it is baffling and unpredictable. You never know when you’ll be bulk billed or when you’ll be asked to pay. Whether you’re a public patient or a private patient, the out of pocket costs for medicines and treatments are never clear.“I was extremely fortunate to have an emergency fund of savings because it was so expensive, especially initially, that I was stunned,” she says.

The high cost of screening tests could put many women off being tested at all. Picture: AP Photo/Damian DovarganesA 2017 BCNA report found that women typically pay around $5000 in out of pocket costs in the five years after their diagnosis, most of this in the first two years.

Of course it would be great if the gov't provided more support, but how about we also consider the discrepancy in funding for health research & treatment for men versus for women. When will see an article on men's health funding? GenderEqualityWhenItSuits

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