After any serious illness, people may have concerns about financial issues, insurance policies, superannuation and work.
Learn more about:
Financial assistance
For many people, cancer treatment can be a financial strain. This may be caused by extra out-of-pocket costs for medicine or travel expenses, or from loss of income. These extra costs can cause you and your family a lot of stress, but support is available:
- Your local Cancer Council may be able to organise legal and financial advice.
- Ask your social worker about any financial or practical assistance available to you.
- Call the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007 for free, confidential and independent financial counselling.
- Talk to your superannuation fund about applying for an early release of your superannuation savings on the grounds of severe financial hardship.
- Talk to your utility company, loan provider or local council about how they might be able to help you manage payment of your bills or loans.
- For more on this, see Cancer and your finances.
Insurance
Applying for new insurance (life, income protection or travel) may be harder because you have had cancer. You are generally required to provide your medical history, including your cancer diagnosis.
In general, you should be able to buy insurance for things that are not related to your cancer (like travel insurance for lost luggage, or life insurance for accidental death). It may be difficult to buy travel insurance that covers cancer-related medical problems, but you should be able to get coverage for non-cancer-related medical costs.
It is a good idea to check exactly what is covered before purchasing a new insurance policy. For more on insurance, download a copy of the New Insurance Policies fact sheet.
Legal, financial and workplace support
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Additional resources
Dr Haryana Dhillon, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Medical Psychology & Evidence-based Decision-making, School of Psychology, University of Sydney, NSW; Polly Baldwin, 13 11 20 Consultant, Cancer Council SA; Jessica Barbon, Dietitian, Southern Adelaide Health Network, SA; Dr Anna Burger, Liaison Psychiatrist and Senior Staff Specialist, Psycho-oncology Clinic, Canberra Region Cancer Centre, ACT; Elizabeth Dillon, Social Worker, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, VIC; Prof Paul Glare, Chair in Pain Medicineand Director, Pain Management Research Institute, University of Sydney, NSW; Nico le Kinnane, Nurse Coordinator, Gynaecology Services, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, VIC; Amanda Piper, Manager, Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, VIC; Kyle Smith, Exercise Medicine Research Institute, Edith Cowan University, WA; Aaron Tan, Consumer; Dr Kate Webber, Medical Oncologist and Research Director, National Centre for Cancer Survivorship, NSW. We also thank the health professionals, consumers and editorial teams who have worked on previous editions of this title.
View the Cancer Council NSW editorial policy.
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