Moving to Aus with chronic kidney disease

[DavidK]

Hi, I have been thing about moving with my family to Australia from the UK for the last 4 years since we visited on a wonderful holiday.

I have Stage 4 Chronic Kidney Disease which is currently well managed and I have private medical insurance, would this effect me getting accepted?

I have also just sold my car business so neither myself or my wife would have what we would class as a sought after profession, however I would be in a position to invest.

Any feedback/experience on the above would be much appreciated.

David.

[calNgary]

It will be best to have a chat with a good agent. We have a few who post in this section and all are legit companys who will not rip you off.

The first step would be to find out if you qualify for a visa, if you do, then look into the health side of things.

We have been here 15 years now and had our visa granted fine despite me having serious Liver issues/ disease. When doing the medical we were sent (at out cost) to see a specialist of there choosing who wrote up a report on where my condition was at and likely to go down the years. We had included an almost identical report from my NHS specialist but that mustnt have been deemed good enough,haha 

  Good luck

   Cal x

[Marisawright]

19 minutes ago, DavidK said:

I have Stage 4 Chronic Kidney Disease which is currently well managed and I have private medical insurance, would this effect me getting accepted?

Yes, it might do.  It all comes down to how much your treatment is likely to cost the Australian government.   Unfortunately, having private medical insurance makes no difference, because there would be nothing to stop you cancelling your policy any time you felt like it, and then you would be a cost to the taxpayer. 

The best option is to see a good agent.  George Lombard is often recommended for applicants with medical issues.  They can also tell you whether you are eligible to get a visa.  

[Loopylu]

My husband has end stage CKD and is on dialysis. Private health won’t get you very far here unless you are very wealthy as private dialysis is very expensive and Australian health insurance policies often don’t cover the full costs and there can be a large gap that the patient has to stump up. 
Most people who see a nephrologist privately transition to public health once they hit end stage CKD and boy do they moan about not having a choice of treating doctor and their appointments not being on time…
The public health kidney clinics and dialysis units are very good but the in patient public hospital care and vascular surgery (eg to create fistulas) is dodgy and badly run in my view here in SEQ. They have had 3 attempts at creating a fistula for my husband and he has had all sorts of issues such as a collapsed lung and more recently a huge blood clot in his jugular vein caused by junior vascular surgeons not checking a vein had reinflated after being clamped. He is currently on heparin to break up the clot and has a central line in his chest instead of a fistula so he can dialyse. He had to go nearly a week without dialysis because there was no theatre space for the central line procedure to be performed. You think the NHS is bad…. 
The other thing to take into consideration is the cost of medication. Medicines are generally more expensive here (no fixed prescription charge - just a cap of around $36) and very little is free. Even people on unemployment or disability benefits don’t get free prescriptions. 
The other thing to consider is life insurance. No Australian insurer will touch you with a barge pole. My husband managed to get accidental death cover when he was Stage 3 but if he dies of a cancer unrelated to his kidneys we are not covered. If you do move here, keep any UK life policy going if you are allowed to do so. 
Sorry to be so negative but the public health service here is patchy and very different from the UK. It’s well on the way to being more like the US. 
Another useful resource is the Australian Dialysis Community on Facebook. It may be worth joining as you will learn about kidney care from people all over Australia. 

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by Loopylu

[Bulya]

13 hours ago, Loopylu said:

My husband has end stage CKD and is on dialysis. Private health won’t get you very far here unless you are very wealthy as private dialysis is very expensive and Australian health insurance policies often don’t cover the full costs and there can be a large gap that the patient has to stump up. 
Most people who see a nephrologist privately transition to public health once they hit end stage CKD and boy do they moan about not having a choice of treating doctor and their appointments not being on time…
The public health kidney clinics and dialysis units are very good but the in patient public hospital care and vascular surgery (eg to create fistulas) is dodgy and badly run in my view here in SEQ. They have had 3 attempts at creating a fistula for my husband and he has had all sorts of issues such as a collapsed lung and more recently a huge blood clot in his jugular vein caused by junior vascular surgeons not checking a vein had reinflated after being clamped. He is currently on heparin to break up the clot and has a central line in his chest instead of a fistula so he can dialyse. He had to go nearly a week without dialysis because there was no theatre space for the central line procedure to be performed. You think the NHS is bad…. 
The other thing to take into consideration is the cost of medication. Medicines are generally more expensive here (no fixed prescription charge - just a cap of around $36) and very little is free. Even people on unemployment or disability benefits don’t get free prescriptions. 
The other thing to consider is life insurance. No Australian insurer will touch you with a barge pole. My husband managed to get accidental death cover when he was Stage 3 but if he dies of a cancer unrelated to his kidneys we are not covered. If you do move here, keep any UK life policy going if you are allowed to do so. 
Sorry to be so negative but the public health service here is patchy and very different from the UK. It’s well on the way to being more like the US. 
Another useful resource is the Australian Dialysis Community on Facebook. It may be worth joining as you will learn about kidney care from people all over Australia. 

 

I’m a public patient (CKD) and see my GP’s choice of nephrologist every six months.  Turns out he’s regarded as the best in SE Australia.  Scripts are cheap as dirt from the Chemist Warehouse.  I’m not in QLD and I never will be thank god!