Hi all, I have a 4x5x5mm aneurysm which I watch and wait. Haven’t spoken to a neurologist ever in 8 years only a registrar once. I’m 68 thinking they just don’t care to follow up as they have made 10 phone consultation appointments and every one was just a random call at any time of the day rather than the set times they gave me so I missed them all. Impossible to talk to anyone as they never get back to me. I give up. Our public health system in Australia is a joke now. I blame high levels of immigration putting pressure on our health system. We are like America now, a big shitshow.
Well, I’m glad you came to share and I hate to read you’re having issues with your Medicare. I know zip about navigating Aussie health care but Merl knows a lot since he lives Down Under. I hope he can help you. Only suggestion I can think of is to see if your GP can help you.
Being an American, I cannot disagree we have some major issues happening. Seems folks believed some news that was spreading misinformation mostly by a certain party using the term “fake news” when in fact it was that party which was spreading misinformation in my opinion. Since I can’t get into politics, I will still caution you to do your own research and not believe the hoopla that our country fell into. We have a saying over here, “Don’t drink the koolaide”.
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As @Moltroub says, Merl in our @ModSupport team lives in Oz, so is probably best to help you navigate the healthcare system. We’ll give him a nudge for you.
I live in the UK and we have a public healthcare system that I guess is much more like you have in Australia than anything in America and while I’m not the complaining kind of person, I found that my reports etc only moved on promptly when I rang the complaints line at hospital, so I say find out how to make a complaint and go make a complaint. Some organisations only really react to complaints, so it is important to take that path.
Let us know how you get on.
Best wishes,
Richard
Volunteer moderator
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Hey Cassie,
I’m Merl from the Modsupport Team and I too am in South Australia.
It’s highly unlikely you’ll obtain a telehealth appointment with neurology or neurosurgery. The RAH does do telehealth if they can (often for outpatient follow up), but they won’t be doing initial appointments as telehealth, especially if your last neuro consult was 8yrs ago. You’ll need a face-to-face appointment. Depending on your GP’s authorities to order scans, the GP may be able to send you for an MRI scan or refer you to a practitioner who has the authority to order the scan. If this scan is done before the neuro’s appointment, it can shorten the processing time when seeing a neuro. Some radiologists will only release images and reports to the requesting medical professional in the first instance. They do this so that the medical jargon often contained in these reports can be deciphered by the Dr for the patient. For example, I was told they found an ‘artifact’ in one of my scans. To me, an artifact is something old, like something found dug up in an archaeological dig. But in terms of a scan, an artifact is a shadow from where I’ve moved slightly 1/2 way through the scanning process.
Within our public health system neurology works as a team. Prior to surgery they have a ‘team consult’, talking about the process, other options, other opinions. The idea is that by using a ‘team’ approach you get a broader view of processes, a fuller picture. And it’s true, but it does make the process less personal as you could be seen by any member of the team.
You state that we are like America now, but that is far from my experience. By no means am I saying it’s perfect, 'cos it’s not, but at least if you need medical, you can get it at low to minimal cost (well, low cost in any U.S. comparison). I’ve required a few neurosurgeries to manage my situation. If I’d been in America, my 2nd and subsequent surgeries would have been considered as a ‘Pre-existing condition’ and null/void any health insurance cover. Without cover or Medicare I’d have been looking at over $100k per surgery 
Now, you state your aneurysm is 4x5x5mm and when it comes to size, this is considered to be at low(er) risk of rupture. But size is only one consideration, exact positioning is another, along with patient symptoms etc, it ALL needs to be taken into consideration. If your symptoms are minimal, then often surgical intervention will not be recommended, hence the ‘Wait and Watch’. Surgery can often be seen as ‘The answer’ when in reality the surgery itself can sometimes unleash a multitude of side effects, then once going surgical, there is no going back to ‘before’ and any collateral damage can be permanent. If a scan today shows that any expansion has been minimal in comparison to the scans from 8yrs ago, the medicos may consider it as ‘Stable’ and therefore recommend no surgical intervention.
My recommendation: Get the scans done first. Then (with your dr’s involvement) re-assess from there. If it’s deemed stable, leave it alone.
Hope it helps
Merl from the Modsupport Team
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Hi @Cassiebun and greetings from the States!
I am so sorry that you are having to go through a wait and watch - it must be so incredibly stressful. However, I am also glad that you reached out to all of us. Please continue to vent as you need, we are here to listen!
A few years ago (2023), the BAF hosted a 60-minute webinar that may be of interest to you:
[Living with a Brain Aneurysm Diagnosis: Struggles of Watching and Waiting]
(Living with a Brain Aneurysm Diagnosis: Struggles of Watching and Waiting - Brain Aneurysm Foundation)
It is more detailed, but essentially Merl gave you a fantastic synopsis!
Even though it is a few years old, it may help to get into doctors’ heads generally a little bit as to how/when they decide to treat an aneurysm or not. Of course, the BAF is based in the US so it is skewed to how things work here, while I appreciate will be different in Australia as you are your own sovereign nation 
(!). However, to the extent medical knowledge is global, it may give you a sense as to at least some of what they are considering when deciding whether to treat or not.
I defer to you - well, and to Merl too - but here in the States we do have the option to get a second or third opinion or change doctors. If you have that option, might it help to speak to someone else? What is most important - at least to me - is that you have faith and confidence in your medical team, and if you don’t, it is time to find someone new.
I do agree with @DickD as well, is that if you really think that you are not getting the care you should have, consider letting the appropriate people now. I am guessing that your medical system has its own feedback system, but separately, a quick search suggests that AHPRA is the appropriate regulatory board; you may wish to review its website on how to go about raising concerns.
Finally, as I am listening to this webinar behind the scenes as I type this out, one of the speakers (survivor) encourages all of us to consider therapy, as living with an aneurysm - ruptured or not - is not an easy diagnosis to get (to put it mildly!). Just something you may wish to consider.
Sending good thoughts out to you. Please keep us posted as to how you are doing, and keep us posted on how we can help support you!
Fin Whale Fan 
P.S.to Merl: Ohhhh, you made me think about my younger days regarding pre-existing conditions; admittedly I was blessed not to have any concerns when that was around! Fortunately, overall - and for the moment - that is no longer the case. Personally, this was true for me as my new private insurance carrier (via my new employer) has (also) done a fabulous job covering my remaining aneurysm surgeries/procedures, and I have only had to pick up what I owed, which is totally fair enough. Now comparing the costs that we pay versus the rest of the world, welllll, that is a whole other conversation! 
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Hey Fin,
Yea, insurance companies can be ‘FUN’ to deal with at the best of times. They love playing games with patients, but this isn’t a game, it’s our lives they’re playing with. I ended up getting lawyers involved, the insurer didn’t like that. They wound up crawling back under the rock they came out from under, after being forced to accept my claim. It cost me thousands in lawyer’s fees, but saved what little sanity I had left.
I can’t get any health insurance, they won’t cover me at all. If it wasn’t for our universal health system in Australia, I’d be long dead. I went to get travel insurance and was told they’d cover everything BUT not my head. So I queried “…if I was walking and tripped on a rock, you could say it was my head that caused the trip and, as such, null and void the cover, even if the trip was not ‘head’ related…” and her response was “Well, we have 100 lawyers who would fight the claim…”. You can’t win. They’ll happily take your $$$$, but make a claim… and their tiny fist wrap around that hoard.
Financially, my surgeries have cost me a grand total of $0.00. under our public system. Now, I didn’t just get 2nd opinions, I got 3rd, 4th, 5th… opinions. If someone had a differing opinion, I wanted it. If I could avoid more surgery I wanted that opinion. I went to every dr, wizard and professor who had a view. These appointments I undertook myself and I paid the fees for this. These appointments were not ‘medically necessary’, the surgeon had given his opinion, operate (again). I was less than reluctant and was hunting for another option. The reality was… …there was no option. Wait for things to get even worse (things were bad enough already, ‘worse’ was not an option) or operate.
I’ve required 6 neurosurgeries (and all of the follow up dr’s appointments). If I was in America, I’d be drowning in over $600-700 thousand minimum of medical debt and that’s being conservative. For me, I think it would be closer to the million dollar mark.
Merl from the Modsupport Team
Merl, I remember pre existing conditions being a pit fall but President Obama changed that if I remember correctly in part because his mother had such a hard time with her health care, could be wrong about that. But our insurance companies received new rules under the Affordable Care Act Health Care and You | The White House which for me was a relief not having to wait a year for a pre existing condition to be treated. Yes, there is still ongoing debate about “Obamacare” that may never get resolved in my lifetime. I can say from experience, it can be much more expensive to go with an insurance company through the Affordable Care Act than paying COBRA costs. The downside is COBRA doesn’t last but around 18 months but it gives a person more time to find less expensive coverage. Usually if someone is married they have a good chance of getting on their spouse’s insurance, if of course their spouse is working and has coverage.
There are other ways uninsured people can get help with surgeries under emergency Medicare which gets worked out with help from a hospital Social Worker. Medicines can be drastically reduced by the pharmaceutical company who makes it after an individual emails them through their website which will have a form to fill out. I can’t count the number of times I did this with families sitting in my office as did my colleagues in Adult Protective Services. It’s just a matter of asking for help, getting someone who knows a work around, etc.
I remember a very kind lady working the financial end of things at a local hospital ER said a patient could reduce their cost by 20% if they paid in full. She also knew ways to help patients pay their bills. When I was younger, medical bills did not go against your credit, things changed. But a person could and can pay a minimal amount to the entity on a monthly basis and the entity is not supposed to send it to bill collectors.
When I had to have a diagnostic angiogram I inquired if I could get that 20% off like our local hospital. I was still on private pay insurance, I think COBRA by then. The woman said absolutely if we paid $140,000 up front. BH said dang it I forgot the checkbook. 
. That was in 2014, I’d hate to know what they charge now for one.
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