Leave your scans to the experts: An idiot's guide to doing the stupid thing

This is the story of a number, the angst it caused and the idiot who didn't know what it meant.
And it starts with a trip to the GP.
While the rubber gloves and coughing are (thankfully) not yet a part of my medical routine, when you get to a certain age trips to the doctor tend to open up a whole new world of possibility.
Possibilities such as dropping dead.
As a not-entirely-fit man in his mid-to-late 40s, that's a possibility that tends to linger in the mind. Like many, Shane Warne's untimely death – at an age not that much more advanced than mine – hit me for six, if you'll excuse the obvious cricketing pun.
With that in mind, when a precautionary test was offered – one that, almost scandalously, is not covered by Medicare – I jumped at the chance for a coronary artery calcium score test, conducted via CT scan, which would assess my risk of a future heart attack or stroke.
The kind of thing one would want to know, really.
So off I went before work on a Thursday morning last month, and went foot-first through the CT doughnut.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

The Advertiser

7 hours ago

• The Advertiser

ACT budget on life support amid health funding woes

The ACT budget has a health problem. When Treasurer Chris Steel, fresh in the job after Labor's seventh straight election win, provided a mid-year budget update in February, he was forced to make an embarrassing admission. The territory's budget deficit had blown out to $971 million, more than 50 per cent higher than predicted just seven months earlier. The government's anaemic revenue stream is falling behind what's needed to meet the growing demand for health services of its ageing population. Health spending accounted for less than 30 per cent of the ACT budget in the 90s, Mr Steel says. Now it accounts for 36 per cent. "All of us are facing this massive fiscal challenge from the growth in demand and cost on our hospital systems," the treasurer tells AAP. "That is something that we want to address with the Commonwealth sitting down and getting underway with negotiations on a new five-year National Health Reform Agreement." The agreement lays out how much funding the federal government doles out to states and territories to run their hospital systems. The current agreement runs out on June 30 and the Commonwealth has only guaranteed funding for one more year in a stop-gap deal for 2025/26. While the interim agreement gives the ACT a 16 per cent funding increase from the current financial year, Mr Steel says it's not enough. "The extent of demand and cost in the healthcare system is not being acknowledged by the Commonwealth," he says. Current funding arrangements would result in the federal government contributing to 33 per cent of ACT hospital funding, when the Albanese government has promised to raise their contribution to 45 per cent by 2035. A spokesperson for the federal Department of Health said the Commonwealth was working on finalising negotiations by the end of 2025. Mr Steel stresses the situation is changing for the better under the Albanese government, instead pinning the blame on the previous coalition government for a "decade of underinvestment" in Medicare and general practice. Tuesday's ACT budget will include measures to boost frontline services too, such as payroll tax changes that incentivise bulk billing, intended to take pressure off hospitals. In exchange for a better funding deal, the territory government could help its federal counterpart control the spiralling cost of the NDIS by providing more foundational supports for young males, who are signing up to the scheme at a rate of more than one in 10. "But we also need the Commonwealth to recognise that beyond the NDIS pressures, the major pressure that governments face in this country is about pressure on our acute hospital systems, and that is something that has to be addressed," Mr Steel says. The ACT budget has a health problem. When Treasurer Chris Steel, fresh in the job after Labor's seventh straight election win, provided a mid-year budget update in February, he was forced to make an embarrassing admission. The territory's budget deficit had blown out to $971 million, more than 50 per cent higher than predicted just seven months earlier. The government's anaemic revenue stream is falling behind what's needed to meet the growing demand for health services of its ageing population. Health spending accounted for less than 30 per cent of the ACT budget in the 90s, Mr Steel says. Now it accounts for 36 per cent. "All of us are facing this massive fiscal challenge from the growth in demand and cost on our hospital systems," the treasurer tells AAP. "That is something that we want to address with the Commonwealth sitting down and getting underway with negotiations on a new five-year National Health Reform Agreement." The agreement lays out how much funding the federal government doles out to states and territories to run their hospital systems. The current agreement runs out on June 30 and the Commonwealth has only guaranteed funding for one more year in a stop-gap deal for 2025/26. While the interim agreement gives the ACT a 16 per cent funding increase from the current financial year, Mr Steel says it's not enough. "The extent of demand and cost in the healthcare system is not being acknowledged by the Commonwealth," he says. Current funding arrangements would result in the federal government contributing to 33 per cent of ACT hospital funding, when the Albanese government has promised to raise their contribution to 45 per cent by 2035. A spokesperson for the federal Department of Health said the Commonwealth was working on finalising negotiations by the end of 2025. Mr Steel stresses the situation is changing for the better under the Albanese government, instead pinning the blame on the previous coalition government for a "decade of underinvestment" in Medicare and general practice. Tuesday's ACT budget will include measures to boost frontline services too, such as payroll tax changes that incentivise bulk billing, intended to take pressure off hospitals. In exchange for a better funding deal, the territory government could help its federal counterpart control the spiralling cost of the NDIS by providing more foundational supports for young males, who are signing up to the scheme at a rate of more than one in 10. "But we also need the Commonwealth to recognise that beyond the NDIS pressures, the major pressure that governments face in this country is about pressure on our acute hospital systems, and that is something that has to be addressed," Mr Steel says. The ACT budget has a health problem. When Treasurer Chris Steel, fresh in the job after Labor's seventh straight election win, provided a mid-year budget update in February, he was forced to make an embarrassing admission. The territory's budget deficit had blown out to $971 million, more than 50 per cent higher than predicted just seven months earlier. The government's anaemic revenue stream is falling behind what's needed to meet the growing demand for health services of its ageing population. Health spending accounted for less than 30 per cent of the ACT budget in the 90s, Mr Steel says. Now it accounts for 36 per cent. "All of us are facing this massive fiscal challenge from the growth in demand and cost on our hospital systems," the treasurer tells AAP. "That is something that we want to address with the Commonwealth sitting down and getting underway with negotiations on a new five-year National Health Reform Agreement." The agreement lays out how much funding the federal government doles out to states and territories to run their hospital systems. The current agreement runs out on June 30 and the Commonwealth has only guaranteed funding for one more year in a stop-gap deal for 2025/26. While the interim agreement gives the ACT a 16 per cent funding increase from the current financial year, Mr Steel says it's not enough. "The extent of demand and cost in the healthcare system is not being acknowledged by the Commonwealth," he says. Current funding arrangements would result in the federal government contributing to 33 per cent of ACT hospital funding, when the Albanese government has promised to raise their contribution to 45 per cent by 2035. A spokesperson for the federal Department of Health said the Commonwealth was working on finalising negotiations by the end of 2025. Mr Steel stresses the situation is changing for the better under the Albanese government, instead pinning the blame on the previous coalition government for a "decade of underinvestment" in Medicare and general practice. Tuesday's ACT budget will include measures to boost frontline services too, such as payroll tax changes that incentivise bulk billing, intended to take pressure off hospitals. In exchange for a better funding deal, the territory government could help its federal counterpart control the spiralling cost of the NDIS by providing more foundational supports for young males, who are signing up to the scheme at a rate of more than one in 10. "But we also need the Commonwealth to recognise that beyond the NDIS pressures, the major pressure that governments face in this country is about pressure on our acute hospital systems, and that is something that has to be addressed," Mr Steel says. The ACT budget has a health problem. When Treasurer Chris Steel, fresh in the job after Labor's seventh straight election win, provided a mid-year budget update in February, he was forced to make an embarrassing admission. The territory's budget deficit had blown out to $971 million, more than 50 per cent higher than predicted just seven months earlier. The government's anaemic revenue stream is falling behind what's needed to meet the growing demand for health services of its ageing population. Health spending accounted for less than 30 per cent of the ACT budget in the 90s, Mr Steel says. Now it accounts for 36 per cent. "All of us are facing this massive fiscal challenge from the growth in demand and cost on our hospital systems," the treasurer tells AAP. "That is something that we want to address with the Commonwealth sitting down and getting underway with negotiations on a new five-year National Health Reform Agreement." The agreement lays out how much funding the federal government doles out to states and territories to run their hospital systems. The current agreement runs out on June 30 and the Commonwealth has only guaranteed funding for one more year in a stop-gap deal for 2025/26. While the interim agreement gives the ACT a 16 per cent funding increase from the current financial year, Mr Steel says it's not enough. "The extent of demand and cost in the healthcare system is not being acknowledged by the Commonwealth," he says. Current funding arrangements would result in the federal government contributing to 33 per cent of ACT hospital funding, when the Albanese government has promised to raise their contribution to 45 per cent by 2035. A spokesperson for the federal Department of Health said the Commonwealth was working on finalising negotiations by the end of 2025. Mr Steel stresses the situation is changing for the better under the Albanese government, instead pinning the blame on the previous coalition government for a "decade of underinvestment" in Medicare and general practice. Tuesday's ACT budget will include measures to boost frontline services too, such as payroll tax changes that incentivise bulk billing, intended to take pressure off hospitals. In exchange for a better funding deal, the territory government could help its federal counterpart control the spiralling cost of the NDIS by providing more foundational supports for young males, who are signing up to the scheme at a rate of more than one in 10. "But we also need the Commonwealth to recognise that beyond the NDIS pressures, the major pressure that governments face in this country is about pressure on our acute hospital systems, and that is something that has to be addressed," Mr Steel says.

Perth Now

7 hours ago

• Perth Now

ACT budget on life support amid health funding woes

The ACT budget has a health problem. When Treasurer Chris Steel, fresh in the job after Labor's seventh straight election win, provided a mid-year budget update in February, he was forced to make an embarrassing admission. The territory's budget deficit had blown out to $971 million, more than 50 per cent higher than predicted just seven months earlier. The government's anaemic revenue stream is falling behind what's needed to meet the growing demand for health services of its ageing population. Health spending accounted for less than 30 per cent of the ACT budget in the 90s, Mr Steel says. Now it accounts for 36 per cent. "All of us are facing this massive fiscal challenge from the growth in demand and cost on our hospital systems," the treasurer tells AAP. "That is something that we want to address with the Commonwealth sitting down and getting underway with negotiations on a new five-year National Health Reform Agreement." The agreement lays out how much funding the federal government doles out to states and territories to run their hospital systems. The current agreement runs out on June 30 and the Commonwealth has only guaranteed funding for one more year in a stop-gap deal for 2025/26. While the interim agreement gives the ACT a 16 per cent funding increase from the current financial year, Mr Steel says it's not enough. "The extent of demand and cost in the healthcare system is not being acknowledged by the Commonwealth," he says. Current funding arrangements would result in the federal government contributing to 33 per cent of ACT hospital funding, when the Albanese government has promised to raise their contribution to 45 per cent by 2035. A spokesperson for the federal Department of Health said the Commonwealth was working on finalising negotiations by the end of 2025. Mr Steel stresses the situation is changing for the better under the Albanese government, instead pinning the blame on the previous coalition government for a "decade of underinvestment" in Medicare and general practice. Tuesday's ACT budget will include measures to boost frontline services too, such as payroll tax changes that incentivise bulk billing, intended to take pressure off hospitals. In exchange for a better funding deal, the territory government could help its federal counterpart control the spiralling cost of the NDIS by providing more foundational supports for young males, who are signing up to the scheme at a rate of more than one in 10. "But we also need the Commonwealth to recognise that beyond the NDIS pressures, the major pressure that governments face in this country is about pressure on our acute hospital systems, and that is something that has to be addressed," Mr Steel says.

Sydney Morning Herald

17 hours ago

• Sydney Morning Herald

Leave your scans to the experts: An idiot's guide to doing the stupid thing

This is the story of a number, the angst it caused and the idiot who didn't know what it meant. And it starts with a trip to the GP. While the rubber gloves and coughing are (thankfully) not yet a part of my medical routine, when you get to a certain age trips to the doctor tend to open up a whole new world of possibility. Possibilities such as dropping dead. As a not-entirely-fit man in his mid-to-late 40s, that's a possibility that tends to linger in the mind. Like many, Shane Warne's untimely death – at an age not that much more advanced than mine – hit me for six, if you'll excuse the obvious cricketing pun. With that in mind, when a precautionary test was offered – one that, almost scandalously, is not covered by Medicare – I jumped at the chance for a coronary artery calcium score test, conducted via CT scan, which would assess my risk of a future heart attack or stroke. The kind of thing one would want to know, really. So off I went before work on a Thursday morning last month, and went foot-first through the CT doughnut.