Posted by Michael Wonder on 05 Dec 2016
Private health fund members stuck with outdated treatments due to ‘loophole’
5 December 2016 - Privately insured Australians are missing out on life saving treatments for strokes, heart problems and blocked arteries because government rules prevent health funds covering them.
The treatments involve devices such as a machine that retrieves blood clots from the brain that helped Northern Blues VFL player Scott Simpson make a remarkable recovery after a stroke.
A “fractional flow reserve pressure wire” measures blood flow in diseased coronary arteries and shows where coronary stents should be placed.
