Palliative care is essentially end-of-life care, designed to make life as comfortable as possible for folks with terminal of life-limiting conditions. What palliative care actually involves ranges from patient to patient. It can be delivered in a hospital or residential facility, or at home, depending on the situation.
End-of-life treatment is not a fun thing to think about, but it is one of the most important functions of the health care system. Not everything can be fixed, but good palliative care can make a massive difference to a patient's final weeks or months, and give their family the best chance to say goodbye.
Yes, Medicare will cover the cost of palliative care. Any treatment received in a public hospital can be covered my Medicare. It can get a little more complicated when treated outside of a hospital, where they may be some things that Medicare doesn't fully cover. However, Medicare will still handle the large majority of costs associated with public palliative care.
If you have private hospital insurance with palliative care covered, it will help cover the cost of private treatment. This could involve palliative care in a private hospital, though many health funds offer at home services in major cities, which can be partially covered. In both cases, there may be some out of pocket costs, as there are with all private health insurance treatments.
Unfortunately, the specifics will vary from patient to patient, as palliative care is extremely variable. To get the best information on how palliative care will be covered by your health fund, get in touch with them as soon as you can to find out the process for your fund in your city.
Note that all hospital policies will have palliative care listed as a restricted benefit by default. This will mean you have very limited cover, and will have significant out of pocket costs if you use that cover - be careful! To be fully covered for palliative care, you'll need to upgrade to a Gold Hospital Policy.
Palliative care has a 2 month waiting period. That means you need to have private hospital insurance for 2 months before you're able to make a claim. The good news is that this waiting period is the same even if you have a pre-existing condition - this is a special rule specifically for palliative care. For most treatment types, a pre-existing conditions will increase your waiting period to 12 months.
That means if you need to upgrade your policy to the gold tier, or take out a new gold tier policy, you'll only need to wait 2 months before you can claim, no matter what your current health situation.
Depending on your insurance and your condition, you can receive palliative care in different locations.
Generally, palliative care you receive in a public hospital will be covered by Medicare, although complementary therapies, additional medications and extra equipment costs may have to come out of your pocket. In a private hospital, private hospital insurance can help you cover the cost of palliative care.
If medically recommended, you may also claim some Medicare benefits for palliative care received at home. However, you may still need to contribute to costs such as specialised equipment, medications and at-home nursing or care staff. If you have private health cover, your fund may have arrangements that allow you to receive palliative care at home. This is generally limited ot big funds in the big cities, as specific partnership arrangements need to be made with local hospitals.
This includes aged-care facilities and hospices. The cost of palliative care at certain approved private residential facilities may be covered by private health insurance, as well as Medicare, but only to a limited extent. There will be costs for accommodation and other related services when receiving palliative care in such a facility, which may be covered by different parts of your private health insurance policy.
Think you may have sleep apnoea? Here's what you need to know about public and private healthcare cover.
Compare public and private health insurance for brain treatment.
Gold hospital insurance is the most comprehensive hospital cover that money can buy – starting from around $41 per week.
Guide to what is covered by silver tier hospital policies.
Find out what health insurance tiers mean and how much you’ll pay.
Guide to Access Gap Cover in Australia.
Addiction to drugs and alcohol is a growing problem in Australia and this guide looks at the financial assistance available to addicts seeking treatment and the role played by both the public and the private healthcare systems.
Find out if being treated as an inpatient or an outpatient will affect your private health insurance cover.
Health insurance for weight loss surgery comes with a 12-month waiting period, so it's worth getting sooner rather than later.
Read our guide to see what is covered by Basic hospital policies in Australia.