DEAR News Of The Area,

I AM writing to express my fury at cutbacks to private health Insurance that I am sure will affect many local residents.

From 1 July private health will no longer contribute to the cost of treatments for macular degeneration.

As I have been having monthly eye injections for this condition, these changes will greatly affect me.

The cost of each treatment is over $600, of which Medicare pays one third and my private health covers the rest.

I pay for the scans separately.

The waiting room in the Eye Clinic in Port Macquarie is always full of patients who are just like me.

Without these injections we will lose our sight.

After years of paying into private health funds, I discover I am at their mercy in my retirement.

I have always urged my children to belong to a private health fund to help protect their health. But with the premiums rising and what the health funds cover shrinking, I’m concerned I’ve been wrong.

Maybe if enough people complain, this decision can be reversed.

It would cost the governments and community much more if macular degeneration went untreated and sufferers went blind.

Thank you for the chance to vent my distress.

Regards,
Sue KING,
Dunbogan.