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February 10, 2023
Prescription charges cost on health system
Adam Gifford
Posted On February 10, 2023
Download AudioA University of Otago study has found getting rid of prescription charges could significantly reduce the number of hospital admissions and the length of hospital stays.
The study published in the international journal BMC Health Services Research took just over 1000 people, half of them Maori, and randomly split them into two groups – one of which paid the normal $5 per item prescription fee and the other which got their medicine for free for a year.
Lead author Pauline Norris, a pharmacy professor in the Va’a o Tautai – Centre for Pacific Health, says the charge meant some people didn’t pick up their medication, leading to their health problems getting worse.
She says the study put some hard numbers on what had previously been anecdotal.
“It’s easy tothink that $5 is not very kuch buit for most people it’s actually like $15 or $25 or $50 or even $75 when they go and pick up their prescriptions because they’re getting a lot of prescriptions at once,” she says.
Professor Norris says free prescriptions for people on low incomes and high health needs makes sense
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