Public or Private (please help!!)
After diagnosis of High Grade DCIS with Mastectomy required. My husband and I are both on the aged pension, and have struggled to maintain private health insurance. I live in a rural area which has n...
Forum Discussion
Hi Maddi
For breast cancer related surgery, for me it is a no brainer - go public or use your private insurance in a public hospital (where the public hospital pays any gap fee on your behalf). The later seems to be what CRM above used at RMH. At least in Melbourne, the public hospitals like Peter Mac and RMH have excellent surgeons. I myself am a patient at Peter Mac where I had my breast removed by an excellent breast surgeon and then around 18 months later I had a reconstruction (DIEP Flap - if I had have wanted implants that would have happened more quickly) at Peter Mac with a plastic surgeon who works mostly in the private sector but offers a day per week at Peter Mac. I paid the hospital excess of $500 as I went in as private patient in public hospital (where I could choose what doctor I was under). I haven't paid a cent since then for surgery related stuff. I am on the wait list for a revision to my reconstruction (just to make it perfect) and will not pay anything for that either. Surgeon is even going to throw in a bit of lipo suction of my hips! For a mastectomy (and a reconstruction at the same time) you will not wait long due to the urgency of removing the cancer. If you have a reconstruction further down the track, you may need to wait for up to 12 months. My wait for the revision to my reconstruction will be a bit longer than 12 months I think, but I am not worried by the wait! Good luck with your decision.
For breast cancer related surgery, for me it is a no brainer - go public or use your private insurance in a public hospital (where the public hospital pays any gap fee on your behalf). The later seems to be what CRM above used at RMH. At least in Melbourne, the public hospitals like Peter Mac and RMH have excellent surgeons. I myself am a patient at Peter Mac where I had my breast removed by an excellent breast surgeon and then around 18 months later I had a reconstruction (DIEP Flap - if I had have wanted implants that would have happened more quickly) at Peter Mac with a plastic surgeon who works mostly in the private sector but offers a day per week at Peter Mac. I paid the hospital excess of $500 as I went in as private patient in public hospital (where I could choose what doctor I was under). I haven't paid a cent since then for surgery related stuff. I am on the wait list for a revision to my reconstruction (just to make it perfect) and will not pay anything for that either. Surgeon is even going to throw in a bit of lipo suction of my hips! For a mastectomy (and a reconstruction at the same time) you will not wait long due to the urgency of removing the cancer. If you have a reconstruction further down the track, you may need to wait for up to 12 months. My wait for the revision to my reconstruction will be a bit longer than 12 months I think, but I am not worried by the wait! Good luck with your decision.