Heart Foundation’s new fight to keep Medicare rebate for Health Health Check

Australia’s Heart Health check which is capable of saving four lives every day could have its Medicare subsidy removed.

Exclusive: The hard won Heart Health check capable of saving four lives every day is at risk of having its Medicare subsidy removed as tens of thousands of Aussies fail to front up for the test during Covid.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison provided a Medicare rebate for the test ahead of the 2019 election after News Corp and the Heart Foundation campaigned in support of it.

However, the Heart Foundation has learned the rebate was only temporary and could be scrapped next year when it is reviewed by an independent government committee.

“We were seeking, when it was updated or reviewed in May this year, that it would be made permanent but what was done was, it was extended for another two years, but not as a permanent,” general manager of research at the Heart Foundation Bill Stavrevski said.

More than 217,000 Australians have seen their GP for a Heart Health Check since it was added as a temporary item to the Medicare Benefits Schedule.

The Heart Foundation is calling for the check to become permanent.

“This concerning data reinforces the urgency of making Heart Health Checks a permanent part of the MBS, as doctors will be dealing with a backlog of people who need preventive heart health care for years to come,” Heart Foundation Chief Medical Adviser Professor Gary Jennings said.

A spokesperson for Health Minister Greg Hunt said a review of the Heart Health Check had “identified some issues with the Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) risk calculator, which is the primary component of the Heart Health Assessment (HHA) items”.

“MBS items are only removed from the MBS following review and consultation with relevant stakeholders. It is our intention to make it permanent and we would hope that no other parties would contemplate removing it,” the spokesperson said.

News Corp and the Heart Foundation campaigned in support of Heart Health Checks in 2019.

The Covid pandemic has stunted the number of Australians taking the test, putting lives at risk.

At least 27,000 Heart Health Checks have been missed — if these had gone ahead, 345 heart attacks, strokes or heart-related deaths could have prevented over the next five years, the Heart Foundation has calculated.

“Fewer people having a Heart Health Check means that risk factors like high blood pressure and high cholesterol, which are generally silent or symptom free, go undiagnosed and potentially worsen, increasing people’s risk of a heart event in the future,” Professor Jennings said.

States least affected by the pandemic, including Western Australia and Queensland, had the highest rates of screening, averaging 30 Heart Health Checks per 1000 eligible adults — well above the national average of 25.

Tasmania (16 checks per 1000 population aged over 45) and Victoria (19 checks per 1000 population aged over 45) had the lowest number of checks between April 2019 and July 2021.

In NSW, 26 residents per 1000 population had the check, in South Australia it was 24, in the ACT it was 22 and in the NT 20 checks.

Greg Weiss, 62, at home in Bellevue Hill with his wife Debbi and their children Mimi Weiss and Sam Weiss. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Avid rower, swimmer and walker Greg Weiss would be dead, if he hadn’t acted on early heart trouble warning signs.

The 62-year-old father of two from Sydney was out swimming with a friend when he began feeling pain in his left arm.

He dismissed it as simply strain from his exercise, but saw his GP a few months later and tests were promptly ordered.

“Every day I had pushed through the discomfort not knowing what was wrong. It turned out I had a 95 per cent blockage in the LAD main artery called the widow-maker,” he said.

“Had I not had the body awareness that something shifted and courage to speak up knowing when something wasn’t right, then I wouldn’t be here.”

Mr Weiss, who has since had two stents implanted in his LAD, credits the lifesaving free heart check ups with saving his life.

Scott and partner Virginia Scott Tuckerman, 48, from Wilberforce in NSW. Picture: Supplied

Super fit soccer player, golfer, and triathlon competitor Scott Tuckerman unexpectedly suffered a massive heart attack in April.

The 48-year-old father of two collapsed on the soccer field, but was saved by a player on the opposing team who carried out CPR until the ambulance arrived eight minutes later.

He needed quadruple bypass surgery and laments not pursuing a heart health check with his doctor, despite both his parents having genetic heart conditions.

“I’ve told all my mates and all my family and even my nephews, nieces be aware and don’t be shy of going and getting checked, doesn’t matter what age you are, heart attacks can affect anybody,” he said.

“I thought this wouldn’t happen to me because I was fit, I was active, I was young.”

Mr Tuckerman said Covid lockdowns meant he had not been able to thank the man who did CPR to save his life.