Health insurance for ovarian cancer

Like any cancer, early detection of ovarian cancer helps with both treatment and improving survival rates.¹ Ovarian cancer often doesn’t cause any symptoms in the early stages, which means, unfortunately, many cases aren’t caught until later. Symptoms when they do occur can be attributed to many other medical conditions, and therefore, patients often assume they have something less serious.

Some of the symptoms of ovarian cancer include:¹

• Bloating
• Pelvic, back and abdominal pain
• Changes in urination, such as difficulty going or needing to go more
• Changes in bowel habits
• Unexplained weight loss or gain
• Constant fatigue
• Nausea
• Pain during sex
• Vaginal bleeding not due to periods occurring after menopause or after sex.

If you experience any of the above symptoms for more than a few weeks, they’re painful or you’re concerned, you should talk to your doctor.

Ovarian cancer can be difficult to diagnose due to either lack of symptoms or symptoms that can be attributed to other conditions. There are a few techniques health professionals can use to help diagnose ovarian cancer, including:^1,2,3

• Physical examination, including a pelvic examination and possibly a rectum exam
• Blood tests
• Colonoscopy (to help determine that the problem isn’t bowel-related)
• MRI scan
• Laparoscopy
• Pelvic ultrasounds
• PET scans
• CT scans
• Surgery – this is the only way to get a definitive diagnosis.

Private hospital insurance can help cover various aspects of inpatient ovarian cancer care and treatment, including procedures such as chemotherapy and hysterectomies.

For many types of cancer treatment, you may need chemotherapy, immunotherapy or radiotherapy, all of which are covered by Bronze, Silver and Gold hospital policies. Hysterectomies and laparoscopies are included under the ‘Gynaecology’ clinical category, a minimum inclusion for Bronze policies and higher. This is a good example of how cancer treatment can fall under multiple clinical categories. It is therefore a good idea to check your policy and speak to an expert if you wish to have private health cover for all types of cancer. Your health fund can also pay a benefit towards inpatient diagnostic procedures such as colonoscopies and MRI scans depending on your policy.

Patients often have other treatments, such as natural therapies, as part of their recovery process to improve comfort. Whether these other treatments are covered will depend on the treatment and your policy.

There may be a difference between the Medical Benefits Schedule (MBS) fee and your specialist’s fee, and this gap could mean out-of-pocket costs for you. However, depending on your policy, chosen hospital and specialist, your insurance company, may pay none, some or all of this gap payment.

Some of the advantages of being treated as a private patient in a private hospital include:

• Avoiding public hospital waiting times
• Choice of healthcare clinic and specialist
• Flexibility for appointment times
• A private room (if available).

Medicare can cover the cost of cancer treatment performed as a public patient through the public health system and some of the costs of treatment performed as a private patient through either a public or private healthcare facility. While Medicare provides an invaluable service, depending on your diagnosis, there can be long waiting times for treatment. Public patients also have less flexibility regarding the choice of specialist and when they receive treatment.

Whenever you take out private health insurance, you may need to serve a waiting period before you can make a claim. For hospital cover, you will typically have to serve a two-month waiting period. If you have a pre-existing condition, you’ll typically need to serve a 12-month waiting period. If you’ve changed policies, you won’t need to reserve any waiting periods you’ve already served.