Calls to slash PBS co-payment with 1 in 4 women forced to skip prescribed medicines in cost crisis

New data has revealed an alarming trend in women opting to forgo vital medications due to cost pressures, with calls for the PBS co-payment to be slashed.

More than one in four women have forgone buying their medication, with pharmacists reporting increasing cases of patients scrimping on essential prescriptions for like high blood pressure, diabetes and asthma.

Research from the Pharmacy Guild of Australia conducted by Insightfully found 27 per cent of female respondents had been unable to afford a prescription in the past three years due to financial pressures, with more than one in three women (35 per cent) aged between 35 to 54 affected.

The poll of 2856 respondents found women were twice as likely to be unable to afford prescribed medicines for themselves or their family when compared to men, with more women acting as carers of ageing parents or children.

In light of the findings, the industry body has called on both sides of politics to commit to slashing the maximum co-payment fee for medicines listed on Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme from $31.60 to $19.

In 2023, Labor reduced the co-payment fee from $42.50.

The research found women were twice as likely to not purchase a prescribed medicine due to cost-pressures, compared to men. Picture: Supplied

Sydney pharmacist and Pharmacy Guild National councillor Catherine Bronger said she’s seen a noticeable increase in patients having to choose between which prescriptions they can pay for.

With a patient on multiple medications, this can combine to be a monthly expense totally to $126.40 for someone on four scripts.

“We’re seeing more and more patients that have come into the pharmacy, and they’ll present with a couple of prescriptions, they’ll ask you how much they are,” she told NewsWire.

“They’ll then sometimes pull one script out and just get two instead of three.”

In order to cope with budgetary pressures, Ms Bronger has seen patients take their medication every second day, instead of a prescribed daily dose, like patients on blood thinners, which treat blood clots and can prevent heart blockages, strokes and heart attacks.

The Pharmacy Guild of Australia has called on Health Minister Mark Butler to lower the maximum PBS co-payment from $31.90 to $19. Picture: NewsWire/ Damian Shaw

Some patients also prioritise purchasing medications which relieve acute symptoms, instead of prescriptions which prevent a condition from getting worse, for example asthma sufferers who choose to buy ventolin puffers, instead of preventive medicine which makes their airways less sensitive.

“They’re people with asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes, or have a risk of strokes or heart attacks – they’re very common medications for common conditions,” she said.

Ms Bronger said a drop in the co-payment was a “common sense” policy which would be “life changing” for households.

“It’s immediate relief. To me it’s a very simple policy that makes a lot of sense,” she said.

“We then know that patients will get that medication that they might not be picking up, so it creates this compliance and helps prevent more complicated health issues.”

While Health Minister Mark Butler wouldn’t directly address whether Labor would support a reduction to the PBS maximum co-payment, he pointed to Labor’s record of introducing 60-day prescriptions, lowering the maximum PBS co-payment, and freezing the $7.70 concession card rate for medicine co-payments until 2029.

In recent weeks, Labor also listed the more-modern Yaz and Yasmin contraceptive pills on the PBS as party of a $573.3m package on women’s health, however Ms Bronger noted the update didn’t include cheaper generic version of the contraceptive pill.

“Labor’s hard-fought reforms are delivering cheaper medicines to millions of Australians – already saving them $1.2bn in out-of-pocket costs,” he said.

“Labor has delivered and is continuing to deliver cheaper medicines for all Australians.

“On the other hand, Peter Dutton and the Liberals voted against Labor’s plans to make medicines cheaper.”

The Coalition’s health spokeswoman Anne Ruston said the Coalition had always been a “strong supporter of cheaper medicines for Australian patients” and said they remained committed to listing all medicines recommended by the PBS advisory committee.

“We are really concerned that under the Albanese government, a cap on the number of new medicines that can be considered for listing on the PBS has been put in place for the first time in the scheme’s history,” she said.

“The former Coalition government had a strong commitment to listing all PBAC-recommended medicines on the PBS, and we will remain committed to that policy if elected.”