Women choose between medication or feeding their families as costs rise

Nearly a third of women aged 35 to 54-years-old without a concession card said they had found it difficult to pay for prescribed medicines in the past three years when responding to a survey.

The research found 31 per cent of middle-income households earning $60,000 to $100,000 without a concession card found it difficult to afford medications on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).

Thirteen per cent of people surveyed said they had gone without prescribed medicines because they could not afford them.

Independent research firm Insightfully conducted the survey for the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, surveying people in marginal electorates.

The Pharmacy Guild says medications which are becoming unaffordable are being used for conditions such as diabetes, asthma, stroke prevention, heart failure, inflammatory bowel disease, ADHD and schizophrenia.

The PBS is an Australian Government program that subsidises medicines to make them more affordable, with the consumer paying part and the government paying the other part of the cost.

Concession card holders have lower co-payment requirements than non-concession card holders.

The Pharmacy Guild research was conducted during January after PBS co-payment for medicines automatically rose on 1 January 2022.

The co-payment for general patients has doubled since 2000, according to the guild, and ABS data shows more than 900,000 Australians delayed or didn't get a script filled in 2019-20 due to cost.

Salvation Army Ballarat team leader John Clonan said his staff regularly met people struggling to afford to pay for medications, particularly when those medications were not on the PBS.

"Sometimes we might assist with some of the cost, particularly for families. We also assist by alleviating the pressure in other areas like providing food," he said.

"It does put pressure on their wellbeing, not being able to afford it."

Pharmacy Guild of Australia president Professor Trent Twomey said the research showed women were disproportionately affected.

"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," he said.

"These are Australia's forgotten women.

"As community pharmacists, we are raising the alarm. When medicines become unaffordable, it means that there is no real universal access to the PBS which is the foundation of our health system."

Women's Health Grampians chief executive Marianne Hendron said the data was concerning and reflected existing inequalities that were magnified during the coronavirus pandemic.

"We already had a gender pay gap...When COVID hit, women were more likely to reduce their hours or leave their jobs altogether in order to care for children," she said.

"I think a lot of women are experiencing burnout, especially from working in the health system and being lower paid within that system as well.

"Spending on health care has been so much higher for so many women especially those with families, buying RAT tests, travelling to have PCR tests, even travelling for vaccinations.

"There has been an enormous burden on everyone, in particular those with families and caring responsibility."

Ms Hendron said older women were experiencing higher rates of poverty, particularly those who were single and disadvantaged due to lower superannuation contributions throughout their lifetime.

Healthcare and housing affordability were raised as the two top concerns for voters in the Pharmacy Guild survey.

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