Cost stops one in five from taking their drugs

One in five New Zealand patients in a survey went without prescribed medicines because they cost too much.

Government medicines agency Pharmac yesterday drew attention to the Commonwealth Fund survey, saying that cost was less likely to be a barrier to drugs for sicker adults in New Zealand than in comparable countries.

But Alzheimer's New Zealand spokeswoman Florence Leota said it was an indictment of Pharmac. "One in five and they think they are doing a good job; I don't think so. There's way more that don't even bother going to their doctor to get a prescription because they know the cost."

Alzheimer's NZ has waged a long battle, unsuccessfully so far, for state funding of Aricept and related drugs that it says have been proven to delay the degenerative brain disease.

The six-country survey of sicker adults also found that New Zealand and Britain had the smallest proportions - 3 per cent - paying more than US$100 ($143) a month for their prescriptions. The United States was highest on 30 per cent, followed by Canada, 16 per cent, Australia, 9 per cent, and Germany, 5 per cent.

New Zealanders pay $3 or $15 for each state-subsidised prescription, depending mainly on their age, membership of certain primary health organisations and whether they have a community services card. Some drugs have an additional part-charge.

Pharmac chief executive Wayne McNee said the survey showed that while most New Zealanders contributed at least part of the cost of their medicines, "people are less likely to face high prescription costs than people in countries like Australia and the United States". 

  
Healthcare access

* 29 per cent of sicker New Zealand adults reported they did not visit a doctor when sick in the past two years because of the cost.

* United States is the only higher country, on 34 per cent.

* Cost deterred 19 per cent in New Zealand from picking up a prescription.