Five years ago today I beat breast cancer. This insurance saved me

March 7, 2026 — 5:01am

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The five-year survivor milestone is a big, beautiful one when it comes to breast cancer. And I hit it today. There was one insurance – and one medical test – that allowed me to.

I’ll start with the test because without it I, confrontingly, may not have been alive to write this.

As a 45-year-old, pre-menopausal, very fit woman, a mammogram failed me – though I had cancer, it gave me the all-clear.

And from research since, I’ve realised they do that often for women who – sometimes for the reasons above but also for other potential reasons including simply genetics – have ‘dense’ breasts. Essentially, mammograms don’t see tumours through them.

So I was incredibly fortunate I’d already found my tumour with a self-check – a very evident lump on the side of my breast – and doubly fortunate that my wonderful GP took it seriously enough to also send me for an ultrasound.

Yes, there is significant out-of-pocket cost to having one, but it was the ultrasound that saved me.

If you work your extras cover properly, you could cover the cost of your hospital and extras cover like I do.

It was also my private health insurance, which allowed me to have the precise........

© The Age