Women with or suspected of having breast cancer will be able to claim Medicare benefits for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, from 1 November 2019.

Federal Member for Page, Kevin Hogan said approximately 14,000 patients each year, predominantly women, will benefit from these services.

Medicare rebates will be available for MRI scans for:

• Diagnosis of breast cancer in patients where other imaging was inconclusive and a biopsy has not been possible; and
• Pre-surgical planning for patients diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, where there is discrepancy between clinical assessment and conventional imaging assessment.

“The Federal Government has added these new MRI services to the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) to ensure women vulnerable to breast cancer have affordable access to MRI,” Mr Hogan said.

“The new items for breast MRI will reduce the out-of-pocket costs faced by breast cancer patients. The Government will provide $32.6 million for Medicare benefits for the services,

“The Government is committed to making important diagnostic services more affordable and accessible for Australians,

“Our commitment to Medicare is rock solid, with an additional $6 billion committed to Medicare benefits in the 2019-20 Budget.”