Metastatic Mess: Self employed, no super, life or income protection, expired health insurance

I've worked with Financial Counsellors Australia who do a fantastic job providing specific and tailored help to people who are facing financial difficulties due to illness or for other reasons. They offer a free and confidential service and can be contacted by visiting https://www.financialcounsellingaustralia.org.au/contact/ . They really are great.

Hi Lisa
i feel you, I also have no super. 
I just had to sell our house to release funds to pay for my monthly abemaciclib $5000 and Fulvestrant inj $1900!
i have 3 young children and no longer work.
i receive $703 per fortnight in disability payout. Took bloody weeks spent at Centrelink to get it approved and hundreds of hideous questions. 

Hi @"Lisa..."  How are you going?  I hope things have become easier for you.

where abouts are you?  What town?  Members may know of specific services available to you.

Do you need to travel 50k or more to your treatment?  You can claim fuel compensation via Isolated Patients Travel and sometimes accommodation as well.  You just hav3 to print off some forms, get your GP and Onc fill in the bits with your dates of treatment .... 
https://www.health.qld.gov.au/cq/patients-and-visitors/support-services/travel-assistance

All the best xx

If you create an account on my Gov and attach a link to the ATO you will find a list of all your old super that has been linked to your tfn .  You can check if any of them have disability insurance attached. If not I suggest you roll them all into one,  which is really easy on my Gov.  Then you can claim your super under TPD. Total and permenant disability.  Hope this helps 

Hi Lisa
Sorry to hear about your situation - it is hard enough when you have all of those safeguards in place!

First, ok to be a public patient. I have health insurance but because the best place to be treated in Melbourne is a public hospital, I get all of my tests, treatments as a public patient. The cost of medications can still mount up, however I am about to apply for a healthcare card which I should be able to get as I have low income (and even though I am not eligible for any centre link payment). 

Secondly, you should be able to access any super you contributed from previous jobs. So track it down and give the funds a call. They each have different rules, but there is a couple of ways to access the money.

May not be the entire answer but hope this will help a bit and if you need help with your super let me know.

Cheers
Lisa

Many thanks to everyone for their help - some good ideas to investigate here. The biggest hurdle is that I just seem to be hitting brick walls because we are self-employed.

There’s two breast care nurses in Bundy:

https://www.mcgrathfoundation.com.au/get-support/find-a-nurse/

I'm pretty sure you will qualify for disability pension unless you have a lot of liquid assets, or partner is still earning a decent living from the business. An old super policy may have life insurance in it, you could start by looking on mygov on the ATO section "find my super". Perhaps if there's an account out there still with insurance you could see a solicitor about getting them to grant the insurance

Your oncologist should be able to put you in touch with palliative care who should be able to help you greatly in getting a disability pension sorted.