- Title
- The affordability of prescription medicines in Australia: are copayments and safety net thresholds too high?.
- Creator
- Searles, Andrew; Doran, Evan; Faunce, Thomas A.; Henry, David
- Relation
- Australian Health Review Vol. 37, Issue 1, p. 32-40
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/AH11153
- Publisher
- CSIRO Publishing
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2013
- Description
- Objective: To create and report survey-based indicators of the affordability of prescription medicines for patients in Australia. Method: A cross-sectional study of 1502 randomly selected participants in the Hunter Region of NSW, were interviewed by telephone. Main outcome measure: The self-reported financial burden of obtaining prescription medicines. Results: Data collection was completed with a response rate of 59.0%. Participants who had received and filled at least one prescription medicine in the previous 3 months, and eligible for analysis (n=952), were asked to self-report the level of financial burden from obtaining these medicines. Extreme and heavy financial burdens were reported by 2.1% and 6.8% of participants, respectively. A moderate level of burden was experienced by a further 19.5%. Low burden was recorded for participants who said that their prescription medicines presented either a slight burden (29.0%) or were no burden at all (42.6%). Conclusion: A substantial minority of participants who had obtained prescription medicines in the 3 months prior to survey experienced a level of financial burden from the cost of these medicines that was reported as being moderate to extreme.
- Subject
- prescription medicines; healthcare; affordability
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1058941
- Identifier
- uon:16491
- Identifier
- ISSN:0156-5788
- Language
- eng
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