Reimbursements now available for breast prostheses
Australian women who have had a mastectomy as a result of breast cancer will be reimbursed for the cost of breast prostheses up to $400.
View by date:
Previous Ministers PDF printable version of Reimbursements now available for breast prostheses (PDF 22 KB)
1 December 2008
Australian women who have had a mastectomy as a result of breast cancer will welcome the news that the Rudd Government has fulfilled its election and Budget commitment to reimburse the cost of breast prostheses up to $400.
The new program provides, for the first time, nationally consistent financial support to eligible women who require external breast prostheses as a result of breast cancer.
The reimbursement covers both new and replacement external breast prostheses purchased from 1 July 2008.
Since the program was announced on 9 September 2008, Medicare Australia has received more than 1,000 claim forms for reimbursement.
From today, the program is operational and claims processing has commenced.
To claim the reimbursement a Medicare claim form needs to be completed, which is available from any Medicare office or from the Medicare website.
All reimbursements will be made by electronic funds transfer to a nominated bank account.
Women who are permanent residents of Australia, have a current Medicare entitlement and have had a mastectomy as a result of breast cancer are eligible to claim the reimbursement.
Women can access information about the program by contacting Medicare Australia via the website www.medicareaustralia.gov.au or by telephoning 132 011.
This builds on other funding the Government has committed:
- $12 million through the McGrath Foundation for breast care nurses in 44 locations
- Listed the drug TykerbŪ (lapatinib) on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme for women with advanced breast cancer
- Provided $2.5 million over five years towards the National Breast Cancer Foundation’s cohort study of 100,000 women’s experiences of breast cancer.
For all media inquiries, please contact the Minister's Office on 02 6277 7220.
Help with accessing large documents
When accessing large documents (over 500 KB in size), it is recommended that the following procedure be used:
- Click the link with the RIGHT mouse button
- Choose "Save Target As.../Save Link As..." depending on your browser
- Select an appropriate folder on a local drive to place the downloaded file
Attempting to open large documents within the browser window (by left-clicking)
may inhibit your ability to continue browsing while the document is
opening and/or lead to system problems.
Help with accessing PDF documents
To view PDF (Portable Document Format) documents, you will need to have a PDF reader installed on your computer. A number of PDF readers are available through the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) Web Guide website.