How Much Does Chemotherapy Cost in Australia?

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What is chemotherapy?

How much does chemotherapy cost?

Are there other out-of-pocket costs for chemotherapy?

Are there other or ongoing costs after chemotherapy?

What happens if I can’t afford chemotherapy?

How long will I have to wait for chemotherapy?

What level of health insurance do I need to cover chemotherapy?

Where can I find and compare health insurance?

Long story short

Chemotherapy helps stop cancer spreading and kills cancer cells

Chemo is usually delivered in cycles, and you might experience a few different side effects during this time.

Both Medicare and private health insurance can help pay for your chemo costs

How this works depends on your situation, including whether you have health insurance, and how your chemo is handled.

Chemotherapy can come with some additional costs, like extra health care appointments

Your health insurance might help cover other chemotherapy-related costs, like psychology sessions or acupuncture.

What is chemotherapy?

Your doctor might recommend chemotherapy (or chemo) to help treat your cancer. Chemotherapy works by killing any cells that are rapidly dividing, helping stop your cancer from spreading. It’s also sometimes used to treat other conditions, including autoimmune diseases and blood disorders.

Chemotherapy medicine can be a pill or liquid you swallow, an injection, or an IV (intravenous) drip.

Unfortunately, chemotherapy drugs aren’t quite smart enough to tell the difference between cancer cells and your body’s normal cells. It targets any cells rapidly dividing. However, unlike cancer cells, your body’s normal cells can repair and recover. This is why chemo is often done in cycles, so your cells have a chance to dust themselves off and soldier on.

Since chemotherapy treatment can be a bit rough on your body, you might have side effects like fatigue, nausea, and/or headaches. Everyone’s experience is different, though.

How much does chemotherapy cost?

How much chemotherapy costs in Australia depends, in part, on whether you choose to go public or private, and whether you have private health insurance.

Are there other out-of-pocket costs for chemotherapy?

Are there other or ongoing costs after chemotherapy?

Allied health support

Treating your cancer will be your health care team’s overarching goal, but they’ll also be familiar with the toll cancer and chemo can have on a person. That’s why they might recommend seeing a variety of allied health professionals as part of your overall treatment plan.

Speaking with a psychologist might help you give voice to and work through many difficult emotions at an understandably upsetting time. On the flipside, an occupational therapist could help you stay on top of daily tasks, such as showering or walking upstairs, despite chemo-related hurdles like fatigue.

Helpfully, your extras health insurance could cover some of the costs of these appointments.

Complementary therapies

Like seeing an allied health provider, complementary therapies can help you better manage the physical and emotional impacts of cancer and chemo.

Art therapy might give you a new way to express yourself and your emotions – or even just be a much-needed opportunity to think about something else. Meanwhile, acupuncture could help you cope with different chemo side effects.

Some extras policies include cover for complementary therapies, but it’s important to check what your policy lists.

Health aids

Chemo can be very hard on your body, so a little extra help might be in order over your treatment journey. Depending on your situation, this could look like specialised clothing, mobility devices, and/or dietary supplements. Even a wig to help you feel a little less self-conscious about any chemo-related hair loss could count.

Different extras cover can help pay for different health aids. As always, a flick through the policy document could shed a little light on what those are.

Follow-up appointments

Hopefully, chemotherapy and any other cancer treatments you have will send your cancer packing. But in amongst the well-deserved celebrations and renewed zest for life, it’s important to check back in with your doctor regularly. A follow-up appointment every three to six months for the first few years is the norm. If you’re given the all-clear, these appointments can become less frequent.

Specialist appointments outside of hospital are one of those things private health insurance isn’t allowed to cover. But you’ll likely be eligible for a Medicare rebate. Just be aware you might still have some out-of-pocket costs if your specialist doesn’t bulk-bill.

Possibly further cancer treatment

Sometimes cancer can come back after chemotherapy, or a different cancer might appear elsewhere in your body. Regular follow-up appointments help to catch these instances early, though. Then, your doctor can recommend the next steps.  

This could be another round of chemotherapy or another cancer treatment, like surgery or radiation therapy. In any case, it could mean further out-of-pocket costs for this next treatment and any additional related procedures.  

For instance, if you’ve been recently diagnosed with breast cancer, your doctor might suggest surgery to remove the breast tissue and the cancer along with it. Depending on what happens next, you might want breast reduction surgery or implants to even out your breasts. These surgeries can come with their own out-of-pocket costs, but they also can be covered by Medicare and private health insurance. It comes down to your unique situation.

Helpful tip

If you’re new to private health insurance (or just need a refresher), it’s worth knowing that an extras claim can look a little different from a hospital claim.

For a hospital claim, your insurer has a set amount they pay. Typically, they cover this whenever and however often you need it. The hospital will usually also do all the paperwork for you.

Extras claims, though, tend to have limits. You can claim up to that limit – this might be a dollar value or number of appointments – and then you need to wait for the limit to reset. Resets usually happen annually, but some services might have longer waits or not reset at all.

Additionally, you’ll need to be a bit more involved in making an extras claim. Often, it’s just a matter of swiping your membership card when you pay your bill, but sometimes you might need to take your receipt and make your claim via your health fund’s website or app.

Andres Gutierrez

General Manager – Health

What happens if I can’t afford chemotherapy?

Medicare and private health insurance can make chemotherapy and some related expenses more affordable. But there are also a few financial assistance options you can look into so you can follow your health care team’s treatment plan with less financial stress. 

• Check your eligibility for support payments: These Centrelink payments could be a sickness allowance for yourself or even a carer’s allowance if someone is taking time off work to look after you.
• Look into patient travel schemes: Your state or territory might help cover some of your travel costs for chemo if you can’t access it locally. There may also be volunteer or charity organisations that can help, as well as offer other support services.
• Review your life insurance policies: You may be able to claim on an income protection or trauma insurance policy. Even if you haven’t taken out one of these policies yourself, income protection could be part of your superannuation or even offered by your employer.
• Access your superannuation early: We often think our super is locked away until we retire, but you’re allowed to use funds from it to pay treatment costs, including transport.

It might seem silly, but it can be easy to overlook simply asking about the cost of cancer treatment. But informed financial consent – that’s knowing what you’ll be paying for and how much – is an important part of Australia’s overall health system.

How long will I have to wait for chemotherapy?

It’s not uncommon to hear people worrying about long hospital waits for planned surgeries, but as chemotherapy isn’t a surgery, it might not be a concern.

For example, in Victoria in 2022, just over half of patients waited fewer than two weeks to start chemo. And in good news for those cancer patients’ patience, the majority were seen within 30 minutes of arriving at their appointment.²The North Eastern Melbourne Integrated Cancer Service – Victorian cancer patient experience survey report: Culturally and linguistically diverse cancer patients 2024, p8

Of course, it’s worth remembering that the private system usually has shorter waits than the public system. While being seen more quickly doesn’t necessarily improve your treatment outcome, it can save you from some sleepless nights.

What level of health insurance do I need to cover chemotherapy?

All private health insurance hospital policies fall into one of four tiers: basic, bronze, silver, and gold. Each tier covers progressively more procedure categories.

All bronze, silver, and gold hospital cover policies cover chemotherapy, as well as radiotherapy.

If you need surgical cancer treatment alongside chemotherapy, these are categorised by the body part or system affected. Lower tier hospital policies don’t cover every part of the body, so you might need to look at a higher tier, like silver or gold.

Where can I find and compare health insurance?

A cancer diagnosis can be incredibly scary. You might want to keep it to yourself or put on a brave face. However, asking for and accepting support can be a sign of strength. Having loved ones to rely on can make a tough situation a little easier to deal with.

At iSelect, we understand that health insurance can be an important part of your support system, helping you manage the financial cost of cancer. It’s why we make comparing a range of health insurance options easy, so you can find cover that works for you sooner. All you need to do is use our online comparison tool or speak with one of our friendly health insurance comparison experts on 1800 784 772.