Can you add more suggestions re travel & accommodation schemes in Australia

arpie

NSW Gov is asking for comments re travel & accomodation schemes - but, really, it relates to ALL states .... 

If you live in rural/regional/remote areas, make your concerns KNOWN to the powers that be ..... and JOIN OUR PRIVATE GROUP to share/agitate for better reimbursements!

https://www.haveyoursay.nsw.gov.au/nsw-regional-health-plan?fbclid=IwAR1pSqCbCrPsargRf6xFxO817kIRjlrwB7Ll6evGRs1AOivg5VC9ZIaaWyU



I reckon it is all of the above - as the hoops needed to jump thru for IPTAAS are ridiculous.

3 things that need to change asap -

1) ALL family members on the Medicare card should be able to contribute to the 200k a week travel required to access the payments - not each individual having to travel that amount themselves.

2) The specialist referrals for chronic/terminal conditions should last for the length of the treatment, not needing a new referral every 2 years. Either the patient gets better & the treatment/claims stop - or the patient passes away & the treatment/claims stop.

3) Essential Dental Treatment (eg extractions required before undergoing some forms of chemo) currently need to be done in a hospital to be able to make a claim (which takes up essential hospital beds) when they can be readily done in the Dental Chair .... THIS NEEDS to be changed - as we still need to travel for the service, but are not allowed to claim for it & it is an essential part of the patient's treatment.  NOT having it done, can cause death or permanent disfigurement.

And that is just the beginning ...... feel free to do the survey, tell them your ideas - hopefully some of them will be carried thru!

Annie C

@arpie

 The WA Country Health Service (WACHS) has just increased the daily accomodation reimbursement  amount from $60 to $102 per night. A decade long overdue increase.

What WACHS has not improved are the rules / regulations around a Carer / Escort when seeking medical treatment far from home, in spite of what is written in the glossy brochures.

I have been advocating for over five years now that a Carer / Escort should be automatically approved for Seniors. Currently approval for a Carer/ Escort requires a begging letter from a GP outlining the need. Even then approval can be refused.

Airfares for a Carer / Escort, who is not approved but wishes to accompany the family member, from my remote region to treating clinic based in a large city down south are in the ball park figure of $1,000 return, an amount not even remotely possible on an Age Pension. 

Some of us have "hidden" disabilities, which we tend to keep to ourselves, that make a three hour drive from home to departing airport followed by a three hour flight, difficult on our own.

Seniors in my town often decide that the travel situation is far too difficult on their own and make treatment / followup decisions based on inadequate medical services closer to home.

Definitely leaves one thinking that treatment is based on Postcode.

 

 

wendy55

hi @arpie,
I will be forwarding this on to my mp, see what sort of response i get,

thanks for the info,
wendy55

arpie

Absolutely I hear you @Annie C re the carers ...... hubby couldn't drive or look after himself at all in the last 4-5 years .... and I would be the driver, organiser, chief bottle washer with EVERYTHING to do with his treatment .......

And even tho I was his official carer ... IPTAAS would still miss the 'carer payment' for accomodation and travel .... even tho it was right there on the 'travel diary' and signed off by the Specialist .... I had to check EVERY payment & try & work out what the hell they'd paid (as they lump it into one payment & don't break it down to the dates of travel - just to make it REALLY difficult!)      Good to know the payment has increased to something more relevant in WA (as has NSW IPTAAS in the last 2 months - ours was only $40!!)

Good idea, @wendy55 - maybe we should send it to our GPs too .... half of them don't even know the scheme exists!  God knows, they don't offer the forms to you or fill them in for you, as they need to do - even tho they know they are referring you away from the area ..... grrrrr

arpie

The 'picture' on my top post 'dropped off' for some reason - I'll whack it here again, just so you can see what it was!

This pic (below) is what I was referring to I said: 

I reckon it is all of the above - as the hoops needed to jump thru for IPTAAS are ridiculous.