Here Goes

The Oncology business in Albury is private, they are installed at the CC. If you need chemo, which we hope you won't, you will need to pay for your specialist appointments but the chemo itself has no charge as you are admitted to the hospital for that procedure. You do have to pay for any drugs you take home (don't buy them at the hospital pharmacy, they are cheaper at a discount chemist) It's worth making noises about equity of access to cut the specialist oncologist fees if you can't afford them, but good luck with that. I ended up using the public oncology service in Shep last year, but that is a long story which I probably can't tell here. Suffice to say, one experience  with private oncologists in 2006 was enough for me. Mind you, I can be a raving pain in the arse, so the feeling was probably mutual :)

Radiotherapy is at the Centre which opened in 2016. The company is also private, but there is a cross border government initiative where the gap between the medicare rebate and the fees are covered. That is a huge bonus as previously it was stump up about 6 grand, go without or relocate to Melbourne for the duration, The people there are lovely and it is a modern facility with all the bells and whistles and things generally run very smoothly. They seem very accommodating with people who are juggling work and treatment. Once you get going you are only in the machine for a few minutes so planning for a bit less than an hour per treatment is about right unless there are technical problems but they will keep you well informed about that

Check your super and see if you have income protection insurance--it's a default with many policies and will pay (usually) 75% of what ever wage you were on when you set up the policy unless you have increased it over the years; most of us forget to do that. There is usually a 90 day withholding period, but depending on your treatment this nonsense can take 12 months. Hopefully you will not need that either, but you are not the only one who has the rat wheel spinning when anything new that needs worrying about rears it's head.

Once you get the hang of things and start keeping good files, much of the uncertainty diminishes. The real problems come up in the early stages when the goal posts can move very quickly. You case, like very one else's,  is unique and all anyone can really help you with is the navigation once you know what course you are sailing.