5 hours ago
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March 7, 2026 — 5:01am
The five-year survivor milestone is a big, beautiful one when it comes to breast cancer. And I hit it today. There was one insurance – and one medical test – that allowed me to.
I’ll start with the test because without it I, confrontingly, may not have been alive to write this.
As a 45-year-old, pre-menopausal, very fit woman, a mammogram failed me – though I had cancer, it gave me the all-clear.
And from research since, I’ve realised they do that often for women who – sometimes for the reasons above but also for other potential reasons including simply genetics – have ‘dense’ breasts. Essentially, mammograms don’t see tumours through them.
So I was incredibly fortunate I’d already found my tumour with a self-check – a very evident lump on the side of my breast – and doubly fortunate that my wonderful GP took it seriously enough to also send me for an ultrasound.
Yes, there is significant out-of-pocket cost to having one, but it was the ultrasound that saved me.
If you work your extras cover properly, you could cover the cost of your hospital and extras cover like I do.
It was also my private health insurance, which allowed me to have the precise cancer treatment I wanted when I wanted it. I thank the stars I made both those safety moves.
So, when did I want treatment? Logically, fast – who wouldn’t when you have something malignant invading you? But the thing is that, in the public system, treatment can be slow.
My treatment choice was a double mastectomy and simultaneous reconstruction, for the triple benefit of removing most future breast cancer risk and (in my case) avoiding taking 10 years of hormone blockers and needing radiotherapy (which can lead to ongoing pain and problems, particularly for slighter women like me).
There is no ability to elect mastectomies in the public system. And, if you need an emergency mastectomy, you only get one – and the wait for a reconstruction can be years.
A friend of mine had wanted a double mastectomy when she was diagnosed at age 35 but could only have a lumpectomy. The second time she was diagnosed, a few years later, she was given a single mastectomy then waited seven years for a reconstruction.
She’s also had multiple cancer scares in her remaining breast. My friend loudly cheered my decision, thanks to holding private health insurance, to deal with my diagnosis and reduce my risk in one swift – albeit significant – move.
Which brings me to the coming private health hike of an average 4.41 per cent, the biggest in nearly 10 years, on April 1. Nearly one in two respondents (46 per cent) to a money.com.au survey have said they now intend to drop or downgrade it.
But I urge you not to. Because not only do I credit my health insurance with my life but my family claims back in payouts everything we pay in premiums … to make it effectively free.
Firstly, there’s a way to entirely avoid this year’s hike. If you can pre-pay for the year before April 1 (it’s probably a big ‘if’) you can lock in the existing lower rate for a whole 12 more months. You might even be able to pre-pay a little longer.
But regardless, if you work your extras cover properly, you could cover the cost of your hospital and extras cover like I do. (Remember, you’ll pay a tax penalty of up to 1.5 per cent if you don’t have hospitals cover and you earn more than $101,000 as a single or $202,000 as a couple.)
Begin by making sure you get all the free dental, likely two free cleans and checks a year for the whole family. Right there, that probably effectively cancels two or three months’ premiums.
Next, look at the rehabilitation, repair and relaxation side – it can be a nice place to start. Think osteopathy, physiotherapy, remedial massage and the like. All costly and claimable. Then, exercise is an area for which it surprises people they can partly get payouts.
If you train at a physiotherapy clinic you might be able to get rebates via the exercise physiology or group physiotherapy bucket of funds. If you have had an injury a GP can even sign a form allowing you to claim a portion of your gym membership each year.
And kids’ swimming lessons are often claimable – but most people instead leave that money on the table every year.
Gym membership and swimming lessons usually come from the same allowance, say $400 all up for the policy, called something like health management. This allowance – and others – are about prevention rather than cure, and aimed at ultimately cutting funds’ costs.
Finally, if relevant, optical – with all four of my family members needing glasses/contact lenses – saves us a fortune every year and brings up the amount of our payouts in, to equal the premiums out.
But for me the real bottom line is that my private health insurance – and that expensive ultrasound – saved me from breast cancer, five years clear so far. And that’s priceless.
Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon is the author of How to Get Mortgage-Free Like Me, available at www.nicolessmartmoney.com. Follow Nicole on Facebook, X and Instagram.
- Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.
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