Did you receive notification of your policy being cancelled? If not I'd be quick smart onto the ombudsman to see if it should be reinstated as was and back payment as they said until they found out you have cancer. (Or let the manager know you will be contacting the ombudsman or Health Care Complaints commission about this)
Public hospital surgery is pretty quick depending on diagnosis and urgency. I waited 20 days from my appointment for bilateral mastectomy and tissue expander insertion in SA. If I'd had lumpectomy it would have been quicker. It did take me 2 weeks for first appointment due to Xmas /New Year. You could call them and ask how long to appointment explaining the situation. I had private health but chose public due to costs.
