"Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer Diagnoses"

Mid-last year, my husband was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, after a trip to the ER at Fiona Stanley.

We relocated to Australia around 14 months before on a 482 visa awaiting to apply for PR after our 2 year visa, unfortunately my husband's diagnosis came prior to this and even though we are on a working Visa because we had not yet applied for PR, we only had BUPA and not Medicare.

The costs associated with him in and out of hospital was massive as I became a single household income. We discovered that unfortunately even though I am on a work visa that allows for the same tax deductions as a normal Australian citizen, Bupa will act as our Medicare, however the hospital has the right to charge us Australian Medical Association Rates, which is much higher than what Bupa covers.

Not only did I have to take full time care of my husband, I had to keep on working to earn my paycheck to ensure we can pay our bills. And we had to start planning for his death as he was given less than 12 months to live.

My husband passed on 06/03/2024, which came with it's own costs associated. I had reached out to the hospital to see if there was not any way that assistance can be given for the bills to be at the Medicare rate, but unfortunately this is not an option. I had to remove my husband from my Visa to apply for a medical concession visa that will allow him to die in Australia whilst we proceeded to apply for PR, my son and myself, we were granted PR (I am very thankful as we had nothing to return to back home) and my husband's medical visa was approved after he had passed away. Since then I have now received a settlement account of just over $23 000, to which it will be handed to a third party for a payment plan. At the moment it is hard to see a way forward in all of this whilst one is still grieving loss.

 The hospital staff all round had always been phenomenal, but I think that overall when people come because there is short skill in the country and you take out private health cover as you think this will be fine, it is very deceiving and one should be made aware that you will not be covered at the same rate as Medicare, even though your health cover is sold to you as your Medicare. To start over in a new country without your spouse of 26 years and being reminded that he is no longer with you daily, having the expenses associated with this is hard. I hope that the Australian Government sees compassion in people that come in for honest decent work and to not be penalized like this.