The cancer test Medicare won’t fund
There will be no Medicare rebate for a breakthrough new test that could save thousands of women with breast cancer from chemotherapy treatment, report New Corp Australia.
The $4,500 test, which is subsidised in the UK and US, Canada and Europe, can also identify aggressive breast cancers that do need chemotherapy.
However, for the fifth time the funding request for the Oncotype DX test has been rejected.
The decision has outraged women with breast cancer who say the best treatments will only be available to those with high incomes.
“It’s beyond belief they can be so hard hearted, they must be a bunch of men,’ 71-year-old Sydney mum Kari Svensen, who was able to avoid chemotherapy after the test, told News Corp Australia.
Breast Cancer Network Australia released a statement of disappointment about the decision.
“An Australian study found that 24 per cent of women were able to avoid chemotherapy and all its toxicities after having an OnctoypeDX test which showed the risk that their breast cancer would recur was low,” they said
Explaining the decision, the Medical Service Advisory Committee said that the test only had a small benefit over usual care of women with breast cancer.
However, Melbourne breast surgeon Dr Jane O’Brien says the test is not about saving lives but about stopping the overtreatment of women who are given chemotherapy that makes no difference.
Chemotherapy causes nausea, hair loss, tiredness, risk of developing infections and infertility and treatments, cardiac and nerve problems.
Between 900 and 2000 Australian patients a year would benefit from the test if funded.
The test would cost the government between $3-6 million per annum but this would be offset by savings from reduced chemotherapy.