Despite being among the country's most vulnerable, women under 40 who are reporting their breast cancer symptoms to their doctors are not being taken seriously, according to the Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA) report.
While the average age of diagnosis of breast cancer in Australia is 61, each year approximately 840 women will be told they have breast cancer. But many of these women are reporting disturbing delays in their diagnosis, after being assured their symptoms are not cancer.
In addition to their age, these women are also facing other barriers in relation to life stage with financial, employment and emotional issues leaving them under-supported to deal with the situation.
The BCNA surveyed 15,000 people living with breast cancer about their experiences before drawing up an eight-point action plan for governments, which will be released in Canberra today.
The report also revealed "unacceptable gaps in treatment and care" for women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, with no subsidies for many tests, treatments, psychological help and physiotherapy women need after their initial cancer treatment.
It revealed that Medicare rebates for a series of scans to diagnose and monitor breast cancer were inadequate or non-existent.
In addition, many women are being left to fend for themselves after surgery with no Medicare rebates for key treatments, waitlists up to six years for breast reconstructions and no subsidies for life-saving medications.
As a result, one in four women across the country are being treated in private hospitals, leaving them with out of pocket expenses greater than $21,000 in the first five years after their diagnosis.
Those who cannot afford private care are missing out on vital treatments, with one in five women with breast cancer developing painful swelling in their arms called lymphoedema after surgery, yet subsidies for aids and physiotherapy they need to control the pain are inadequate.
In Queensland, some women are waiting more than six years for breast reconstruction surgery under the public system after undergoing a mastectomy to treat their cancer.
Women with metastatic breast cancer - cancer which spreads beyond the breast - have limited access to breast cancer nurses during their second bout and often have difficulty affording high cost life-saving treatments which often take years to attract a government subsidy.
One in eight women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime and the BCNA is calling for major policy changes, including the establishing of a government portal to help consumers compare fees for common breast cancer tests and treatments against Medicare rebates.
It also wants Medicare rebates improved for scans needed to diagnose and monitor breast cancer, as well as reduced waiting times for reconstruction after a mastectomy with Australia now falling behind international standards.
Breast Cancer Trials, Australia's largest independent breast cancer research group, will host a free Q&A next month to discuss The Past, Present and Future of Breast Cancer Research, for more information visit the event website.