This article was in the SMH last weekend. It is about the lobbying by the Pharmaceutical companies plus donations that they give to the political parties in order to get a drug put on to the PBS.
It mentions Enbrel which has made the list for Rheumatoid Arthritis patients.
I found it very interesting because even though it says we are fortunate in this country with the PBS I feel that myositis patients are getting short changed with lack of access to the newer drugs that the Americans can get through their insurance.
There is a guy called Brian in Singapore who posts on the TMA site who has undergone this treatment and has had some good results.
Campath trials on MS patients in the U.S.A. had a set back when one of them died and I believe this was due to a blood platelet problem that wasn’t attended to quickly enough.
So was curious if anyone out there has also done it off their own bat here in OZ.
You may all be aware of this but I certainly wasn’t and thought I should share this information. About six weeks ago was at the dentist and she was saying that I really needed a root canal done on a tooth that kept flaring up with pain and then settling down. I said “can we wait till my combined health insurance kicks in which will be mid December. She said “did you know that Medicare will cover you for up to about four thousand dollars over two years if you have a chronic disease - you need to get your G.P. to do a form”.
Went to my G.P. She had to do and “Enhanced Primary Care (EPC) Progam Referral Form for Dental Care under Medicare” plus a “GP Management Care Plan (1) preparation Team CAre Arrangement” form. This form lists all your medical conditions, the Doctors and specialists that you see or have had to see regarding all your medical problems, when you last saw them and when you are getting reviewed. A summary which is like a run down of your condition and why you need dental work. It took her ages to do but she did bulk bill me for the time. She said that she had to be careful in putting this together as people have misused the system.
Anyway we went away on October school holidays and my problem tooth suddenly flared into an abcess on the gum. We were on Fraser Island in Queensland and I just had to ignore it. Got back to Sydney and I tried to drain it myself and thought that it had resolved then 5 days later it flared up again and had to rush in to the dentist. Was put on antibiotics and luckily the Endodontist was able to see me on Tuesday of last week. The root canal cost fifteen hundred dollars and I had to go to Medicare to claim back. The girl at Medicare had a little problem getting her computer to accept it but then she got it o.k. and I got back nearly all of it. Was well worth the effort.
