Pensioners skipping medicine use
The use of essential medicines by pensioners has fallen by up to 11%, after the Federal Government increased the amount they have to pay towards prescriptions.
Pensioners are foregoing potentially life saving drugs, after being forced to choose between medicines, Dr Anna Hynd, a research associate at the University of Western Australia’s School of Population Health, says.
Dr Hynd led a study which quantifies how out-of-pocket expenses affect the care of low income people.
Her study published in Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety is the first to demonstrate how medication use has changed, in response to price rises in recent years.
The study says the biggest drops are in medicines to prevent ulcers, osteoporosis, asthma and dangerous blood clots, Fairfax reports.
Dr Hynd said the reduced use would inevitably affect people’s health, requiring extra hospital visits and hospital admissions.
After the Federal Government raised the pensioner prescription co-payment to $4.60 from $3.70 – a 24% rise – in 2005, the use of cholesterol lowering medicines to prevent heart attacks and strokes also dropped.
Dr Hynd said her study showed the 90 cent drug price had already made it impossible for pensioners to fill all their prescriptions.
The prescription price went up in January 2008 to $5.
“It’s not uncommon to be on five, 10, 15 medications,” Dr Hynd said.
“There’s an assumption that people will be able to tell which medicines are most essential.”
However, she said the research showed people would skip drugs if it did not trigger immediate unpleasant symptoms, even if it caused long term clinical consequences.
