RE-CONNECTING WITH OUR COMMUNITY MAKING PROGRESS WITH OUR POLICY AND ADVOCACY WORK
KNOWING YOUR RIGHTS WHEN IT COMES TO health insurance
R eviewing your private health insurance policy may be the last thing you feel like doing, but it can also be empowering to take control of your finances. You can check your cover still suits your needs and perhaps even save some money in the process. Many of our members have questions about private health insurance after a breast cancer diagnosis. Here are some tips from Laura Crowden, Corporate Affairs Manager at iSelect, an insurance comparison service. Does my breast cancer diagnosis affect my options to change providers or policies? No, when it comes to private health insurance in Australia, if you have had a breast cancer diagnosis, your options to change providers or policies are the same as someone who hasn’t had cancer. Will I be charged more for the same policy as someone who doesn’t have breast cancer? You cannot be charged more for private health insurance or refused cover based on your medical history. Health insurance is different to other insurances such as life insurance or travel insurance, where a pre-existing condition may affect the type of cover you can access and/or how much you pay for it. With health insurance, a pre-existing condition will not affect the level of cover you can access or the price you pay, however, you may have a 12-month waiting period before you are covered for the pre- existing condition. If I change policies, or providers, do I have to serve my waiting periods again? With private hospital cover, any waiting periods you’ve already served will be protected by law as long as you swap to an equivalent or lower level of cover. If you take out a higher level of hospital cover, you will only need to serve the waiting periods on the new services you’re adding to your policy. If you had a gap between having cover, you may have to re-serve the waiting periods, depending on the length of time between insurers. Should I tell a new private health insurance provider about my medical history? Yes, it’s important the provider knows what your medical needs are so they can help you choose the most suitable cover. Remember, you can’t be charged more based on your medical history.
When should I consider changing my cover and/ or provider? Don’t set and forget as you may be paying for cover you no longer need. You may want to review your private health insurance cover each year to ensure it still suits your life stage and health needs and offers value. Some providers offer Silver Plus products which can be great value for older customers and may cover things such as hip replacements or cataracts while excluding services such as pregnancy. If you currently have a couples policy but you and your partner have different health needs, you may be able to save money and better tailor your cover by splitting your cover from a couples policy to two singles. Many people take up combined policies for hospital and extras cover with the same provider but there could be no financial benefit. You can choose to split these policies across different providers. How do I compare policies? Private health insurance can be really confusing, so speak to someone who can help. Contact your current insurance provider to discuss your needs or use an online insurance comparison site to find out what other options are available. For more information, read BCNA’s Managing the financial impacts of breast cancer factsheet.
LGBTIQ+ Lived Experience Reference Group member Laurie (right) and her partner
W e have made great progress in the first year of our Strategic Plan: Towards 2025 by focusing on policy and advocacy work that aims to reduce the costs for people diagnosed with breast cancer. Key highlights are: • updating the Managing the financial impacts of breast cancer fact sheet • launching the podcast Work after breast cancer: Tackling the difficult conversations • raising awareness of your rights when it comes to private health insurance on page 14 of this edition of The Beacon . BCNA has continued working on the Medical Costs Finder, a Federal Government initiative to increase transparency of out-of-pocket medical costs. We also recently made submissions in support of the drug trastuzumab deruxtecan (Enhertu™) for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer to be listed on the PBS, and of the genomic test EndoPredict™, to improve equity of access and reduce the cost of breast cancer treatment. Year two of the strategic plan focuses on improving equity for all people affected by breast cancer and their access to optimal breast cancer care.
We aim to: • increase awareness of what should be expected as ‘best breast cancer care’ • identify pathways for increased consumer participation so the voices of people with breast cancer are heard at places where decisions about breast cancer care and research are made • explore and help address unmet treatment and supportive care needs of people with breast cancer, with a focus on people living with metastatic disease. LGBTIQ+ resources and support Earlier this year we published new resources, including 13 articles and two podcasts, for people from LGBTIQ+ communities affected by breast cancer. These resources were informed by Professor Jane Ussher’s ‘Out with Cancer’ study and BCNA’s LGBTIQ+ Advisory Group. You can access the new resources here . The LGBTIQ+ Advisory Group has evolved into the Lived Experience Reference Group. This group will contribute insights and raise issues and topics of interest and importance for people from LGBTIQ+ communities affected by breast cancer.
‘Being able to talk about my experiences of dealing with a breast cancer diagnosis and being queer has helped me greatly. I also hope that it has helped others by supporting the resources now available on BCNA’s website and My Journey’. – Cathy conversation, email your expression of interest to policy@bcna.org.au Addressing fear of cancer recurrence among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women Through our continuing partnership with the University of Queensland, we are progressing work on this issue. The first phase of this study, conducted in 2020, found that Aboriginal and Torres Strait If you identify as part of an LGBTIQ+ community and are interested in joining this The next phase of this work will focus on developing or adapting resources to better support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women with breast cancer to help them with their concerns. BCNA is inviting participants to be involved in the study. If you identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and would like to participate, please see here for more information. Islander women had a higher fear of recurrence than non- Indigenous women.
Laura
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Breast Cancer Network Australia
bcna.org.au
Issue 92 | September 2022
September 2022 | Issue 92
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