Out of pocket or out of care: Medical costs pile pressure on Australians

Out-of-pocket medical costs are hitting Australian households, with more than 1 million people forking out $1000 a year on out-of-hospital services and medications, while those unable to afford it miss out on care.

Leading cancer researcher Professor Sanchia Aranda, the former Cancer Council chief executive who chairs City Cancer Challenge, said some high-charging specialists were misleading patients and should be forced to properly disclose treatment costs. “If you’re in the lowest socioeconomic group in Australia, you are 37 per cent more likely to die of your cancer than if you’re in the highest economic group,” she said.

Consumers Health Forum chief executive Leanne Wells said doctors should be able to itemise expected costs for patients in a single quote.Ms Wells said the advocacy group recently surveyed 5000 people and found Australians were still concerned about out-of-pocket costs, “particularly for people with chronic conditions like cancer”.

“Is it expensive, is it cheap, is it in the middle? It’s very hard for a patient to know that,” Dr Khorshid said. Health Minister Greg Hunt said the Coalition’s commitment to Medicare was “rock solid” and that “we continue to support the health and wellbeing of Australians more than ever”. He said the number of bulk-billed services across the health system was increasing.

Source: Healthcare Press (healthcarepress.net)

Dana_Adele Such a great idea to subsidise private healthcare providers w/o a sunset clause, huh. Well done, ALP + LNP.

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Dana_Adele It’s almost like everything was warned would be done to Medicare was done to Medicare.

Dana_Adele We need a new government.

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