New research estimates the number of Australians with heart failure will increase significantly over the next decade.
With the condition already affecting over half a million Australians, the government will subsidise a first-of-its-kind drug to help deal with the problem.
Phillip Lyons knows the risks of heart disease.
His father died of a heart attack at age 60, and two of his brothers have battled the condition.
The 71-year-old Sydney man is no exception either, having suffered two heart attacks.
"One was 30 years ago, when I was 41, and I had open heart surgery following that. And then 14 years ago, in 2003, I had another heart attack and another open-heart surgery."
He says, despite his family history, the first heart attack still came as a surprise.
"I've never been a smoker, I watch my diet, and I was doing a lot of exercise, so it really ... it was a shock. I thought I was doing all the right things."
But Mr Lyons says he has been able to keep his condition under control.
"I have regular check-ups. I have a stress test every year. I take medication and have regular blood tests."
One of the medications he has been taking is Entresto, a new, first-of-its kind treatment for heart failure.
Andrew Sindone, a heart-failure specialist at Sydney's Westmead Hospital, says the drug has significant benefits for patients.
"This medication showed a 16 per cent reduction in chance of dying, a 21 per cent reduction of people ending up in hospital, and people felt better. So that really fulfils all of our goals."
But it is not cheap.
Patients currently using Entresto pay around $260 a month for the treatment.
As of June the 1st, though, the medication will become part of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, meaning pensioners will pay just $6 a month and non-pensioners around $30.
Experts are welcoming the government subsidy, particularly as new research reveals heart failure is a growing epidemic.
A report on heart failure in Australia by the director of the Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research, Professor Simon Stewart, shows over 500,000 Australians have the condition.
And, each year, 67,000 new cases are diagnosed.
Professor Sindone says medications like Entresto are helping tackle the problem.
"If you have heart failure, you've got about a 50 per cent chance of dying in the next five years. So it's a problem. It's common, and it's expensive. So if we have better medications, better treatments which can make people feel better, make people live longer and keep them out of hospital, that's our aim."
By 2025, it is predicted more than 650,000 Australians will suffer heart failure, an increase of almost 30 per cent.
Experts attribute the overall increase in heart failure to people living longer.
The National Heart Foundation's Gary Jennings says, in multicultural communities, where the condition is common, the introduction to a new lifestyle plays a role.
"That applies to some of our other ethnic communities who are just emerging into a sort of Western kind of lifestyle, developing some of the risk factors that they perhaps didn't have at home, and the consequences."
A recent study found one in five heart-failure patients speaks a language other than English as the main language at home, while one in 10 patients is non-Caucasian.
But Mr Jennings says, while Entresto will benefit many, drugs are not always the answer.
"And, of course, the best way to treat heart failure is to prevent it, and that's for people to have their risk factors, like their cholesterol and their blood pressure and being physically active and their diabetes, all treated well."
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