Health Insurance

Hi, I guess the important thing is to ask to have a policy  that provides the best coverage for all the sorts of costs one has with breast cancer including CT scans, MRIs ultrasounds, mammograms, heart scans, blood tests various, surgical, medical and extras costs including wigs, prostheses, reconstruction, etc.

The reason I had a fight to get payment for a wig (although I had been twice assured by Bupa staff that I was covered for this) was that our policy was changed when MBF became Bupa, and I did not read the small print to ensure we still had top-of-the-range hospital, medical and extras cover. They have other policies that do.

Good on you for thinking ahead, hope you don't need to use it but better safe than sorry

best wishes

Hi Chris, I am with BUPA, and was previously with MBF healthsmart couple cover. I was told that I was covered for a wig to the value of $750 by two different people. I bought a wig package, and rang to ask how to claim, and then told I was not covered at all. When I hit the roof and said they could not say one thing and then change their minds after I had spent the money, so she put me through to a consultant who said he would need to investigate to see if I had in fact been told it was covered, and that someone would call me back within 48hours.

I then rang them about another issue, and spoke to another consultant who said I was covered under Health Appliances, and that he had no idea why I had been told otherwise. I then got a call back from a woman who had been checking up and who said they found I had been told I was covered and she agreed to cover it but said I first need to get the Medicare rebate and then send the rest through to them.

I feel very messed around

Hi Vam,  i am also with Bupa ( mbf) and they have been fantastic covering me for wigs and bra's as well as hospital and chemo , i havent paid much out of pocket . We pay $50 a week for family cover.

Pip

Hi Victoria

Sorry to hear about your Mum and your family history. I haven't had surgery yet, but I have one of the lower levels of private health insurance which covers you fully as a private patient in a public hospital, through Australian Unity. I am fully covered, and can choose my own surgeon, which is perhaps the most important thing.

One thing you might not have considered is Extras cover, which I found out the hard way that I didn't have great cover for, and have since changed. Some of the "better" extras cover gives you rebates on prosthetics and wigs, as well as pharmaceutical cover, which gives some peace of mind if more expensive non-PBS treatments are prescribed.

I think the most important things I've learned about private health insrance so far, and throughout my diagnosis is that

1. You really need to know what you're covered for before you're asked to make decisions. I was a bit blase about my insurance choices before I had to go through all of this!
2. Private Health insurance does not cover you for imaging and outpatient tests in a private hospital. You're not covered for anything, even if you have top cover. If you have financial considerations (and everyone does), don't be embarassed or backward in saying that you want to have your tests done in a public hospital. I was thousands out of pocket through diagnosis, and I can't imagine extra stress this would have caused on top of everything else if I couldn't afford it.

Good luck with everything :-)

Hi Victoria

I'm also with Bupa (HBA) and have been paying premiums for over 45 years. Because of the public hospital's commitment to having Multi Discipline Teams I elected to be treated as a private patient in the public system after watching two girl friends who were being treated for bowel cancer fall through every crack possible in the private system.

I could choose my own Oncologist, Breast Surgeon, Plastic Surgeon etc. as long as they have an affiliation with the hospital, but no out of pocket expenses for me. The hospital just gets me to sign Bupa forms and they claim direct.

Most doctors involved in the treatment of breast cancer have both private and public patients, the Oncologist and Breast Surgeon were the ones my GP would have referred me to.

Think about going this way if finance is a problem.

With love

Joy K

Thanks so much for your advise, Chris! I hope you're in good health now. V.

Hi Joy

No, fortunately I have not been diagnosed with breast cancer...I'm just preparing myself for the eventuality. So I was interested in hearing if there were any health insurance providers that were particularly good in covering costs involved.

Do you know if any will cover preventative mastectomies?

No, I won't be getting any genetic tests, in part because I don't want to have to let health care providers know. I have a strong family history, so I'm just going under the assumption that I do have the cursed gene.

Thanks

Victoria

It's not clear from your post whether you have breast cancer yourself or are just worried because your mother died from breast cancer. If you have not been diagnosed there should not be any trouble getting health insurance from any of the big providers. I did some research for a girlfriend and found the costs to be about the same and benefits evened out, some paid more for one thing and less for another and vice versa.

Have you had any genetic testing to see if you are carrying the inherited breast cancer gene ?(only a small percentage of breast cancer cases) This is something you would need to declare when taking out health insurance.

I feel that insurers would be loathe to take on anyone already diagnosed with breast cancer without a long exclusion period for anything associated with breast cancer.

Good luck with your search

With love

Joy K

Thanks - would love to hear what they come up with!