Costs add to cancer pain
SICK people living in the bush are refusing healthcare, contemplating selling their homes or being forced to rely on charity under grossly inadequate patient travel subsidy schemes.
The policies make a lie of Medicare’s promise of providing universal access to free healthcare if you live in the country and have to travel to the city for healthcare.
The $41-$60 a night accommodation subsidy for a single person offered by the states will not even cover the cost of a dog kennel, which ranges between $49 and $85 a day.
“The situation is dire,” Can Assist executive director Emma Phillips said.
Can Assist is the largest cancer support network for rural and regional cancer patients in NSW and is urging the state government to increase subsidies.
A recent survey by the organisation found four out of five cancer patients who travelled long distances for treatment (and received travel subsidies) also needed help from charities to cover their costs.
“We have no doubt that some people choose to skip treatment altogether,” Ms Phillips said.
“One patient said that without our support he would have had to sell his home to get treatment for a brain tumour, which involved scores of trips – thousands of kilometres – between Cootamundra and Sydney, and many weeks of accommodation while undergoing treatment.”
A survey of subsidies in other states shows they, too, are equally inadequate.
The petrol subsidy is a ridiculously low 16 cents per kilometre in South Australia, 21 cents per kilometre in Victoria, 22 cents in NSW and 30 cents in Queensland – compared with the price of petrol, which soared to more than $2 per litre this year.
In NSW the subsidy for accommodation is $43 for a single ($60 couple) per night when hotel prices in Sydney are around $150 to $200 per night.
In Victoria the subsidy is $41 per person per night, in Queensland $60 per person per night in Queensland and in South Australia $40 per person per night.
The costs quickly add up when multiple return car trips tally into thousands of kilometres a year and a patient needs to stay in a major city for up to six weeks or longer.
Each year, Can Assist provides around $1m in financial support for accommodation and travel expenses alone – but the gaps between the rebates and what patients have to pay are growing.
It says the complicated paperwork involved in claiming the subsidies in NSW is a nightmare with some patients having to make 200km trips to regional towns simply to get a doctor’s signature on a form.
Rare Cancers Australia is calling for the subsidies in all states to be lifted to several hundred dollars per night to cover the true cost of travel to a major city.
It says that, with the federal election coming up, the major parties should consider introducing a national subsidy for patient travel.
It also wants the subsidies extended to people taking part in clinical trials in major cities, currently there are no subsidies at all for this type of travel.
“I would suspect that people certainly are skipping appointments,” Rare Cancers Australia general manager Christine Cockburn said.
“Think about somebody who’s living on a low income in a regional or rural area and charge them huge amounts per night to attend a city facility, it’s really easy for people just to go without,” Ms Cockburn said.
Cancer Council Queensland’s general manager advocacy James Farrell agreed the travel subsidies were inadequate.
“Sixty dollars a night in Queensland is one of the better rates, but it goes nowhere near meeting the needs of people travelling to major cities for treatment,” Mr Farrell said.