Financial Information Forum - we want your questions
Marianne_BCNA
Member Posts: 245 ✭
Hi all,
There is always a lot of discussion online and within our membership in general about the financial impact of breast cancer. This was further highlighted when BCNA commissioned Deloitte Access Economics to survey its members about the out-of-pocket costs of their breast cancer treatment and care and other associated costs. As a result of your feedback, BCNA is holding a Financial Information Forum on Thursday 15th March in Melbourne.
There is always a lot of discussion online and within our membership in general about the financial impact of breast cancer. This was further highlighted when BCNA commissioned Deloitte Access Economics to survey its members about the out-of-pocket costs of their breast cancer treatment and care and other associated costs. As a result of your feedback, BCNA is holding a Financial Information Forum on Thursday 15th March in Melbourne.
Expert guest speakers will provide you with information and practical tools to help manage challenges such as:
- private health insurance
- work
- superannuation
- Centrelink.
Tagged:
3
Comments
-
That's great..... if you're in Melbourne3
-
Good initiative - depending on outcomes I hope you can hold these elsewhere. Perhaps some of the materials can be available online after the event? Regards3
-
That sounds great @Marianne_BCNA but no good to me as I'm in Qld, and no way I could afford to go down there for that unfortunately and like @Afraser said it would be good to get access to the info discussed or a webinar so we could all watch it later perhaps?? And also maybe you could ask questions on behalf of BCNA members at the forum?? Maybe you could start a post about it or we could PM you?? As you know I've been writing and advocating for changes to the "system" since I was diagnosed. Might be an idea to throw in someone from Medicare also especially regarding the upfront costs for prosthetics etc. Margie2
-
Great job! I hope it goes well for you and is the first of many
1 -
Hi all,
We are trialing this one in Melbourne (thanks to funding by a supporter) but depending on outcomes of this forum will look at other opportunities. We will also upload an overview of this forum.
We are very happy to take your questions and pose them at the forum so start posting your ideas here. Please keep them more general rather than specific.4 -
Great to see this being addressed. One of my expenses (and there were many others) was the cost of traveling for treatment. At the time we got $30 a night towards accommodation and we had to pay all of the first 4 nights. It was a ridiculous amount towards what we had to pay.0
-
I would love to see BCNA do more of these forums as webinars, similar to what NSW Cancer Council does. They would then be much more accessibe to a great many more people.
In terms of funding, I'd be interested in hearing about any moves to more standardised subsidies for compression garments across the country. I'm not elligible for any assistane from the govrnment where I live , but some assistance is available if you fit the criteria. There are places with no subsidies at all. Lymphoedema treatment and management is my biggest post treatment cost, and it's never going to end. I'm "lucky" in that my private health insurance covers 60% of the cost of 2 garments per year, so the rebate on a glove almost pays for a sleeve. If i end up needing more than 2 sets in a year, it's all out of pocket2 -
Can you imagine the ' men in suits' who make decisions about subsidies for Lymphoedema support garments being handed one and being told:
'Wear that.'
'For how long?
Forever
What happens when it's dirty?
Keep wearing it
But I want to go to the gym, it will stink
Yes
I want a spare
Sure, a months wages and you can have one
That's not fair. And it doesn't fit properly
Too bad.
-8 -
@mum2jj, I too require custom made garments. Up until now I've paid around $500 per set. I've just ordered a new set, and have ordered a Jobst Elvarex with some sort of protection or special bit at the elbow, to protect it. I'm not sure how much more it's going to cost, so I hope it's worth it. I know here in the ACT you can get 2 full sets each year if you fit the criteria, but it's a reimbursement scheme, so you have to be able to pay up front. How many people who have health care cards can do that?
@Zoffiel, how right you are. Dare I compare it to women's sanitary items being deemed "luxury" items for the purpose of the GST???3 -
I'd like to tackle IPTAAS (Isolated Patients Travel and Accommodation).
It is a ridiculous amount of paperwork for every specialist to fill in and if your dates change because your treatment is extended, you have to start again.
The subsidy for the first week accom is $43, second week $65 and after that $105 - WHY?
The accom is the same cost the whole time and it's impossible to get anything decent under $100. AND they don't allow Airbnb.
Let's bring it in line with the politician's accommodation subsidy - $372 per night - every night.
4 -
Honestly isn’t the whole system just fucked seriously what a bunch of wankers that think it’s bloody ok to fill out heaps of paperwork and just simply make everything a pain in the arse. As if it’s not bloody hard enough having bc or any life threatening condition for that matter and then having to wank everything up hey. I actually hope they get to read all these posts. Margie xx7
-
@Zoffiel I have lucked onto sleeves at a far better price than my breast surgeon was able to supply at $53 versus $79.
I also found a place in the US where they had a silicon topped one and it is really good. I went to claim back on Medibank Private and only got $30 refund. Supposedly to be $60 but seems they, like so many in the health area can charge what they like when you have cancer. Makes ME SO ANGRY. Is it not bad enough that we have breast cancer without the rip offs and the fact that everything changes once a person has had breast cancer. No more mammograms, you must pay $500 OPE for each MRI etc etc... Grrrrrrrrr0 -
Please make a recording of the forum and post through youtube onto here so the rest of us Aussies can join in perhaps. It could be made a live broadcast on here I believe and maybe we could all forward our questions online simultaneously.0
-
Lymphoedema remains one of the unspoken side effects - for most of us it's for life. Compression garment prices vary but there is not much assistance if you need made to measure, and 2 sets is hardly a luxury if you need to wear them daily. At a recent research consultation I attended (on options for early detection of bc) 3 out of six women attending had lymphoedema and wore compression garments some or most of the time. Lymphoedema therapists are trying to get better recognition for those affected but could do with some help.
2
