Central Coast pharmacists are concerned that the rising costs of prescriptions under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) are forcing some people to choose between essential medications and other essentials such as food and petrol.
Many commonly used medicines on the PBS are now costing patients $42.50 per prescription after the maximum co-payment went up again on January 1, raising concerns with the Pharmacy Guild of Australia that the figure could well rise to $50 by the end of the year.
The cost of scripts for those on concessions also rose by 20 cents to $6.80.
Pharmacist Stuart Anderson of West Gosford Late Night Chemist said the maximum co-payment is the figure clients must pay on prescription medications, with the government picking up the rest of the tab.
Although this latest rise was only 80 cents per prescription, Anderson said the amount could really add up over multiple prescriptions.
“Every increase impacts the affordability of medicines and people have to make the choice between getting their medication or paying for other essentials,” he said.
“The pressures on the family budget are getting worse and worse with prices going up everywhere else, at the supermarket, for insurance, at the petrol bowser … this is just another pressure people don’t need.
“The whole premise of the PBS is to provide essential medicines at the lowest possible price and I think they’ve moved away from that.
Anderson said that almost every day he had customers coming in and finding they didn’t have enough money to fill their scripts.
“Often they say they will come back for one of the medications the next week – sometimes they come back and sometimes they don’t.
“The disadvantaged and those with mental health issues are at particular risk.”
Anderson said he would like to see a freeze on rises to the maximum co-payment and a reduction in the safety net.
At the moment, this safety net is set at 48 prescriptions, after which the cost of prescriptions drops from $42.50 to $6.80 for general patients and from $6.80 to zero for concession card holders.
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia says life-saving medicines used for diabetes, asthma, heart failure or anaphylaxis are becoming unaffordable for many.
“The co-payment for general patients has doubled since 2000 and according to ABS figures, more than 900,000 Australians delayed or didn’t get a script filled in 2019-20 due to cost,” a spokesperson said.
The Guild has found that nearly a third (31 per cent) of middle-income households ($60,000 to $100,000) without a concession card have found it difficult to afford medications on the PBS and that hospitalisations and loss of productivity due to a failure to take medicines as instructed by medical professionals could cost the federal budget $10.4B in a year for hypertension, dyslipidemia and depression conditions alone.
Guild National President, Professor Trent Twomey, said patients were increasingly asking pharmacists which of the medicines prescribed by their GP could be skipped to save money.
“This is a dangerous trend, as prescribed medications are designed to work together to preserve the health and ultimately save the lives of the patients who need them,” he said.
“Pharmacists are worried that there will be more preventable ill-health and even deaths as people are increasingly finding themselves having to choose between buying the medicines they need and other essential items like rent, groceries and petrol.”
“This is disproportionately affecting women.
“I see mothers in my pharmacy forced to choose which child gets the medicines prescribed by the doctor or not filling their own scripts because there’s nothing left in the budget.”
Terry Collins