The Hidden Costs of Healthcare: Regional Queensland Families Left Pouching Out for Essential Treatment
For families living in regional Queensland, the journey to essential medical care can be a gruelling and expensive ordeal. Tarni Keily, a primary school teacher from Mount Isa, knows this all too well. She dreads the necessary trips to Brisbane for her three-year-old son Eli’s critical medical appointments. While she’s immensely grateful for the financial support provided for the flights, which they require every three months, the reality of accessing specialist services paints a starkly different picture.
Ms Keily and her husband find themselves needing to squirrel away $1,000 for each three-to-five-day visit to the Queensland Children’s Hospital. This routine, a consequence of Eli’s diagnosis with Shwachman-Diamond syndrome, has placed a significant mental and financial strain on their family.
The Queensland government’s Patient Travel Subsidy Scheme (PTSS) aims to alleviate some of this burden by covering flights for patients who lack access to specialist medical services in their local areas. However, Ms Keily highlights a critical flaw: the accommodation rebate simply isn’t keeping pace with the escalating cost of living.
“The program offers a rebate of $70 per person, per night for accommodation,” Ms Keily explained. “I don’t think you can get accommodation in the city for less than $150 a night. And that might not even be at accommodation I would feel comfortable staying in with my child. People out there are only getting $70 a night and are definitely paying double [or] triple that, depending on their appointment.” This shortfall means many families are forced to dig deep into their own pockets, often paying hundreds of dollars more than the subsidy provides.
A Gruelling Weekly Commute for Cancer Treatment
The challenges extend beyond specialist appointments for children. Kirra Kucks, the operations manager at Julia Creek Station, faces a demanding six-hour round trip every week to Mount Isa for her breast cancer treatment.
“It’s a pretty intense day,” she shared. Ms Kucks often departs her home at 3:30 am, with the weekly fuel costs for the journey alone amounting to approximately $200. She points out that the PTSS allowance of 34 cents per kilometre for the 250-kilometre road trip doesn’t adequately cover her expenses.
“When I’ve used the subsidy I’ve been a fair bit out of pocket,” Ms Kucks admitted. She recounted paying $157 for a recent room, which barely offered functioning air-conditioning. “I can tell you as a cancer patient when you’re having hot flushes it’s not very fun when you’re sitting with no air con,” she said, highlighting the discomfort and indignity of the situation.
Despite receiving the $70 rebate from the PTSS, Ms Kucks found herself paying more than half of the accommodation cost out of her own funds. “When I found out our flights would be covered, as well as for my husband who was coming with me as my chaperone, that was a massive load off our minds,” she said, underscoring the importance of flight subsidies. However, she lamented the significant disconnect between the actual costs of travel and everyday living expenses, urging the state government to bridge this widening gap.
Government Response and Calls for Urgent Review
In response to these concerns, Health Minister Tim Nicholls stated that the Crisafulli government had allocated substantial funding to the PTSS in the previous year’s health budget. A review of the scheme is currently underway, with a particular focus on simplifying the claims process for patients and expediting reimbursement times.
However, Traeger MP Robbie Katter, whose electorate encompasses a significant portion of north-west Queensland, believes the current subsidy rates are woefully outdated. The last adjustment to concession rates was made by the former Labor government, which, in the 2023-24 financial year, increased the allowance from $60 to $70 per person, per night – the first increase in a decade. Similarly, mileage rates saw a modest rise from 30 cents to 34 cents per kilometre.
Mr Katter is adamant that these rates are in urgent need of a comprehensive review. “I challenge anyone who has to fly for specialist appointments to try and feed themselves and find accommodation on $70 a night,” he declared, emphasizing the inadequacy of the current financial support for those facing extensive travel for medical treatment. The experiences of families like the Keilys and individuals like Ms Kucks clearly demonstrate a pressing need for the Queensland government to re-evaluate and significantly increase the PTSS subsidies to reflect the true cost of accessing healthcare for regional residents.
