First week of Spring!
As the new season begins, so do blooming flowers, warmer weather, longer days and lots of sneezing!
Welcome to our 35 new members - we hope that you have been able to find your way around the online network. This week has seen 38 blog posts and once again a great response, with over 250 comments from our members.
We enjoy sharing with you all the activity that is happening within the online network including improvements and fixes to the website, however we would love to know if these updates are helpful to you.
What would you like to hear from us about? What would be of interest to you? How could we spice up the weekly update?
In keeping with the theme this week of Spring and New, we wanted to share these posts with you.
- This beautiful post by the talented Tracey B into the 'creative corner group' - Hope that this brightens your day
- A new member to the online network, Fiona - New to this
- Thank you Maria for your post - Newbie
A big thank you once again to the online network for showing support to our newest members.
I would like to leave you with this quote by Terri Guillemets -
Spring: the music of open windows
~ Ann-Marie x
Comments
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Just by chance I came across an article in the Australian on sept 4th about how th cost of oncotype test at $4500 is a deterrent to women having it but apparently women who do have a 57.5 less take up of chemo as it doesn't seem to offer valuable advantages. I think bcna would benefit from sharing these kind of articles and research with its membership and of course it would be a great advocacy project
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Hi Mona
This is Kathy from BCNA's Policy Team. Thanks for your comment about the Oncotype DX test. It is a test that can provide additional information for some women about whether or not chemotherapy may benefit them. You are correct that it costs around $4,000 for Australian women and is not covered by Medicare.
BCNA has been doing some advocacy work on Oncotype DX. There is currently a submission before the Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC) for a Medicare rebate. MSAC is the committee that makes recommendations to the Australian Government on which tests and treatments should be covered by Medicare. It is going to consider the application in the next couple of months.
BCNA made a submission supporting a Medicare rebate for Oncotype DX, which you can read here on our website. You'll see we made the submission in 2013 - MSAC processes are quite lengthy. We'll let everyone know the outcome via our website when we hear it.
Kathy
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