Smoking and Access to Government Funded Cancer Treatment

This article discusses the challenges faced by smokers in accessing government funded cancer treatment in Australia. It highlights the role of the government in providing free and cheap medication to cancer patients and the need for nurse leaders to ensure quality care. The article also suggests that nurses can play a significant role in counseling smokers and rehabilitating them to reduce the pressure on government resources allocated to cancer treatment.

SMOKING AND ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT FUNDED CANCER TREATMENT 1
Smoking and Access to Government Funded Cancer Treatment

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Smoking and Access to Government Funded Cancer Treatment
In the recent years, death rates resulting from cigarette smoking have risen so much. Today lung
cancer is the leading cause of deaths in Australia. We may blame smokers for their careless
habit but it, the increase in deaths may be attributed to our failure to do enough to give advice,
care and proper medication to the victims. When the smokers incur a lot of costs in meeting their
medicines of cancerous infections, we tend to blame the government. Others blame the nurses
and health care providers. Some blame the smokers but
Smoking is one of the main challenges to the health problems. Smokers risk themselves to
cancer, mostly cancer of the lungs. In the year 2004-2005, a total of 14900 people in Australia
passed away as a result of smoking and its attributable sicknesses. It is approximately, 40% of
the deaths that are preventable on a daily basis by the society. Also, cancer is the primary cause
of smoking-related diseases where statistics show that the death rates are, 57% for and 51% for
women among people of all age (Cancer Council NSW, 2017).
Although the Australian is mostly government funded, a lot of out of pocket costs are associated
with it. They include expenses attributed to diagnosis, treatment and also survival in the public
system. In the country a lot of cancer care occurs mainly in the private sector, majorly privately
funded or under health insurance covers such as Medicare. The out of pocket costs can be
substantially higher. The aged suffer most because they have cancer and other chronic illnesses
such as diabetes where it is estimated that they can spend up to more than 10% of household
income on the out of pocket cost (McCaffrey, 2017)

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The Australian government has the significant role to play in ensuring that people who are
affected by smoking-related illnesses access to free and cheap medication. The Australian
government must make efforts to provide cancer patients can access chemotherapy treatments of
quality measures at their time of need.
Governments are the only solution to relieve patients from extreme out of pocket medication
costs. Though the government of Australia has some many medical insurances, a challenge exists
on how they cover chemotherapy.
In the country, the original Medicare Coverage for cancer treatment does come with costs that
you must pay which include coinsurance and other deductibles. For example, if you are enrolled
in part A Medicare and part B, it enables you to sign up for a Medicare Supplement, (Medigap
plan), that help in paying the Original Medicare's out of pocket costs which are associated with
your cancer treatment (Cross, 2017)
Once the government makes strides in providing government funded care, nurses have the more
significant role to play in ensuring that the patients who have cancer get quality care in these
hospitals. Nurse leaders should be at the forefront of quality care and help the nurses provide the
best quality of attention to the cancer patients. The government funds the treatment of cancer
patient, but the big question is, does it fully engage all stakeholders and the citizens in the
decision making processes in policy making?
Patients come to the hospitals to get treatment and counseling. As per the increasing rates of
deaths in the country associated with smoking-related infections, it is evident that the counseling
part of the treatment process is not done correctly. This leads to an increase in the number of

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cancer patients and results in a lot of pressure in the government funds and services allocated to
cancer treatment which may lead to inadequate free medication to the patients.
Nurses interact directly with the cancer patients in the hospitals. They understand better the
challenges faced by patients in accessing the government funded cancer treatment. In my
opinion, these nurses have the best solution to the way the government should provide health
care to the patients. They can give counseling to smokers, rehabilitate them and give them the
best treatment to reduce the pressure that mounts on the government resources allocated to
cancer treatment.

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References
Cross, J. (2017, October 31). Does Medicare Cover Cancer Treatment? Medicare.com, pp. 2-10.
McCaffrey, N. (2017). Cost of cancer to the patient. CANCER FORUM (pp. 8-10). Sydney:
Clinical Oncology Society of Australia.
NSW, C. C. (2016, April). Health care in Australia. Retrieved from Cancer Council NSW:
https://www.cancercouncil.com.au/cancer-information/when-you-are-first-diagnosed/
cancer-care-and-your-rights/health-care-in-australia/