Qld cancer patient welcomes drug subsidy 
A Maryborough cancer sufferer has welcomed the placing of a chemotherapy drug onto the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) this week.
In 1995, 65-year-old Gary Morse was diagnosed with an incurable lung cancer.
He says the chemotherapy and asbestos cancer drug, Alimta, helped him greatly last year.
But he say it would have cost him about $20,000 if his oncologist had not persuaded a private health insurer to pay the cost.
“We have private insurance and he [the oncologist] got in contact with them and got them to agree to pay for the first three treatments and the results were great,” he said.
“Then he talked them into paying for the next one and of course now it’s come onto the free list, which is better still.
“If we hadn’t had private insurance we would have had to take it out of our superannuation retirement fund.
“I know of another one person who’s on it, and it’s increased his life span, and of course it’s also going to increase mine too.
“This year 22 of our family were all together for Christmas, the first time ever, and I thought it was going to be the ‘last supper’, actually, until this new drug come on the scene.
“Now we can look forward to the future. I’m really pleased with it.”
