MORE FINANCIAL HELP FOR LOCAL CANCER PATIENTS

Chemo co-payment to be abolished


Article heading image for MORE FINANCIAL HELP FOR LOCAL CANCER PATIENTS

By Renee Bogatko, Image Credit – Katarzyna Bialasiewicz/123rf.com

There’s some relief in sight for local cancer sufferers, with the ACT Government to scrap the chemotherapy co-payment for patients getting public treatment.

From the end of July, the ACT Government is set to start forking out about $1m a year, which is expected to save cancer patients up to $1,500.

The ACT Cancer Council has welcomed the news.

“It’s a struggle for every person going through treatment and we certainly do hear from people with financial difficulties,” CEO Sandra Turner said.

“This will benefit all people having chemotherapy as part of their management plan with cancer and certainly will ease the financial burden for them as they go through their treatment.”

Ms Turner said while it is progress, more needs to be done to help local cancer patients.

 “When people do become sick, they may need to leave work, or their primary carer may need to leave work, so anything we can do to assist these people to decrease that financial hardship is a positive step in the right direction,” she said.

“There’s lots of things that can be done to help cancer patients and paying the co-payment is only one of them. Managing day to day expenses is always important and good financial management can help people manage their budgets better when they are going through treatment.”

The changes follow a long-running campaign by local families who’ve been rallying on behalf of other cancer patients in the capital.

Meanwhile, the ACT Government said it’ll continue to work with the Commonwealth on other ways to support affected locals.

4 July 2018




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