Dealing with breast cancer is distressing enough without having to re-mortgage your home or extend your credit card limit to cope with unexpected out-of-pocket medical costs.
But according to Breast Cancer Network Australia boss Kirsten Pilatti, the need to take such desperate measures is an all too common story.
One woman was told by her private doctor that she should expect to shell out "probably hundreds" of her own dollars for her treatment plan.
She has since paid more than $4500 out-of-pocket, and will soon be whacked with another $11,000 bill for a mastectomy.
"This kind of notion of 'it'll be alright, let's get you into treatment', is actually an enormous financial burden to people longer term and is actually causing enormous distress," Ms Pilatti told AAP.
"Not just for the patients, but also for their family and friends."
But things could be on the verge of changing for women like those Ms Pilatti works with.
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