Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy (RARP) Fee

BendBridge on 04/06/2022 - 11:47
Last edited 04/06/2022 - 11:54 by 1 other user

Just diagnosed with prostate cancer.

I am with Medibank private (Silver Everyday Hospital and Essential Extras 75). The surgery fee has been quoted as $9,500 with out-of-pocket $7842 at Epworth. On the Web, some quoted the same surgery cost at a public hospital could be as low as $200. There was also a recent report on ACA about the same surgery between HCF and Medibank with HCF came out much worse in terms of rebate. I have been with Medibank private for over 30 years and this is the only major operation (thank goodness) I need so far but the rebate by Medibank really doesn’t seem to be worthwhile.

Would love to hear from people who have been thorough the same or similar situation. Thanks.

/WT

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  AndyC1 on 04/06/2022 - 12:06

  +1

  Get the referral to the cancer surgeon (a surgeon who specializes in cancer). Then when you go in have a chat with them about the public V private and go from there. The surgeon books you in, so you need to see them before anything is booked.

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  illogicalerror on 04/06/2022 - 12:18

  +1

  So sorry to hear of your terrible news. You can beat it hey.

  Government healthcare for life threatening conditions is amazing in Australia. Private is only really going to help if you need a hip replacement and don't want to wait 3 years.

  My daughter had a tumour in the marrow of her humerus. They flew her (and me) from my remote area to Brisbane, flew in a specialist device and surgeon from somewhere, paid all our accommodation, hospital, drugs and everything… and she made a 100% recovery. This all cost nothing. As a taxpayer I already paid for that. That's what universal healthcare is about. One day my daughter will pay tax too.

  Private healthcare is designed to make shareholders wealthier, it doesn't seek to heal and care. That is not it's primary function.

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    scottishdave on 04/06/2022 - 12:35

    I agree. The worse thing the Federal Government did was to sell off Medibank Private. It provided a competitor to the shareholder operated private healthcare funds.

    As an aside, a number of specialists will tell you the waiting list for public is very long. This may be true for a small number of aliments, eg hip replacements but in many cases the specialist will want you to go private because it's more money in their pocket. Check the wait times for your operation type for hospitals in your area first.

    https://www.patients.org.au/elective-surgery-waiting-times/

    My pensioner grandmother was told by her specialist that the wait time for a knee replacement was around a year. She had no private health cover so dipped into her sparse savings to pay for the operation a month later. In the hospital ward she saw a fellow patient, operated on by the same specialist under the public system and the fellow patient only had to wait 5 weeks!!

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      AndyC1 on 04/06/2022 - 12:49

      My ex had cancer treatment a few times and the longest waiting was for referrals and tests, not the waiting time between seeing the surgeon and the surgery.

      Cancer treatment is very fast and is between detection and treatment is weeks, not months or years in the city. It is a longer in the country, but if you can get and stay in the city then it is allot quicker.

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        illogicalerror on 04/06/2022 - 13:01

        From the time the tumour in my daughters arm was detected to the time of operation to have it removed was 10 days, and that's from a remote area.

        They don't mess around when lives are on the line.

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          AndyC1 on 04/06/2022 - 13:11

          @illogicalerror: The time from seeing the surgeon to the operation was 5 days one time and 12 days another time as the following week's times was fully booked so she had to wait and even if she went private it would have been the same time. My mum took a bit longer as she had complex surgery and had to wait 12 days the first time, but the second time it was on the next Wednesday she could be in Sydney so long as she could make it to the hospital on the Tuesday to get the blood tests done..

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  screensaver on 04/06/2022 - 16:05

  Could it be the consumibles for robot surgery that pushes the price up? Can you go public with this?

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    samcro on 04/06/2022 - 17:51

    No, you can't get the robotic surgery on the public system unfortunately.