With no family history of type 1 diabetes, Melanie didn’t anticipate her son Andrew’s diagnosis at 7 years of age. “We didn’t have the right level of coverage for an insulin pump. We had to upgrade and pay a much higher insurance premium. As diabetes was considered a pre-existing condition on our new coverage, we had to serve a 12-month waiting period.”   

Currently, less than 50% of Australians have private health insurance, and only a third of them hold the gold tier policies that provide the necessary coverage for privately insured patients to receive access to insulin pumps. This means that even for the majority of Australians who have private insurance coverage, there is no option but to self-fund the purchase of insulin pumps¹.  

For Melanie, waiting 12 months for this life-saving device was not an option.  

“Andrew had met a local ‘DiaBuddy’ the same age, and this boy had a pump. Andrew watched him being able to eat whenever and just press some buttons on his pump.

“He told me that night he wanted to ask Santa for an insulin pump for Christmas.”

“I told him I would figure it out and get one as soon as I could, but that he wasn’t to waste his Christmas wishes on diabetes stuff. I applied for a loan pump to cut down our wait time, and hired a private diabetes nurse educator to avoid the long wait in the public clinic. We didn’t quite make the Christmas deadline, but we got him up and running in the January.”   

Three years on and Melanie’s entire family have top tier insurance coverage that costs hundreds of dollars a month. They made this decision because they also have a daughter, and she now has a higher risk of being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Melanie doesn’t want to risk her being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and then having to wait 12 months to access an insulin pump.  

Looking ahead, Melanie has significant concerns about the affordability of diabetes technology for Andrew who will have the added financial burden for the rest of his life. She wants him to experience the freedom that someone with a working pancreas has – to be able to travel as a young person, move away from home, work on a mine site, or live overseas: “Whatever he wants to do without worrying about that financial cost of what he needs to be healthy and safe.” 

Watch Melanie & Andrew’s story: 

¹ Medical Technology Association of Australia