Editorial: Prescription costs to hurt worst off

I haven't been to the doctor that often in recent years - but my daughter has.

Thankfully she has so far been hit by the fairly rudimentary stuff of toddler ailments such as virus, gastroenteritis and chest infection.

Her $3 prescriptions don't break the bank but at this time of year, when she's got some sort of malady every second week and needs inhalers or antibiotics or both, it can all start to add up.

I suspect we are fairly typical in that if the charge for prescriptions rises it will not break the bank for my family. Of course, it's yet another cost when it feels like there are bills coming from every direction.

The Government has announced next week's Budget will include an increase to the prescription cost for the first time in two decades. The money will be reinvested in the health sector.

Health Minister Tony Ryall says the $5 prescription cost will be applied to the first 20 items of medicine per family each year, so no family will pay more than $100 a year for prescriptions.

The current maximum for prescription costs is $60 a year.

While this will seem like a pittance to some, including our multi-millionaire Prime Minister, it will affect the tight budgets of Kiwi families living on or approaching the breadline.

The move will hit lower-income groups, the elderly and the chronically ill with particular force. The cost of living is already high in this country, and the thousands of New Zealanders who packed the Oz Jobs Expo in Auckland last weekend are testament to the frustration of those who are sick of scrimping while stories of highly paid fly-in, fly-out mining jobs float home on the breeze.

It cost $15 to enter the event in a country where people often baulk at cover charges, and yet there were 6000 attendees.

The opportunities in Australia are a valid, though regrettable, option for young, fit, skilled Kiwis. But what about those less fortunate? What about the elderly who want to live out their days supported by a tax system they have paid into all their working lives? What about those with sick kids, solo parents and those who are struggling to get work despite their best efforts? I'm sure Mr Ryall doesn't have to scrape around for $2, but some people do.

It's a brutal decision to redirect money from lower-income families to other health system users, but I hope Mr Ryall is cognisant of how hard this small increase will hit some families.

We're not talking about forgoing your morning coffee. We're talking about parents ignoring their own medication needs so they can pay for their children's. We're talking about another barrier for a family which might already have been tossing up whether to spend the last of their budget on transport to take their youngest child, with the troublesome cough, to the doctor.

The fact many New Zealanders will think such cases are an exaggeration is sad in itself.