Alarming Survey Reveals Australians Struggling to Afford Both Food and Medicine

Australians are increasingly resorting to using expired medications, missing doses, or postponing the purchase of prescriptions as the rising cost of living takes a toll on their ability to maintain a stocked medicine cabinet.

In response, the federal government has attempted to address this issue by reducing the maximum price for prescription medications covered under its subsidy program to $25.

This initiative promises a taxpayer savings of over $1 billion. However, a survey conducted by the McKell Institute revealed that 43 percent of Australians receive prescriptions for drugs not covered by the subsidy.

Consequently, nearly 20 percent of individuals reported being unable to afford medications not included in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).

Among those prescribed non-subsidized drugs, approximately one in four opt not to purchase them, about a third delay buying them, and 16 percent have to sacrifice other essentials to afford their medication.

Overall, more than one in five of those surveyed said they had delayed filling a prescription due to cost and 18 per cent did not fill it at all.

Some 15 per cent skipped a dose to make it last longer, and 12 per cent reported taking expired medication rather than filling and paying for a new script.

“They have to make a really hard decision between food and medicine, between something for their family or for themselves,” McKell Institute chief executive Edward Cavanough told AAP.

“It’s a bit of a wake-up call.”

Australia’s PBS listing process.

Part of the problem is Australia’s slow PBS listing process.

In 2022, it took 391 days for a prescription medicine to go from being approved for use to being included on Australia’s subsidy scheme.

By comparison, it took 101 days in Japan, 121 days in Germany and 167 days in the UK.

This has worsened in recent years, widening to more than 600 days by 2025.

“We also have this flood of new and innovative medicines being approved,” Cavanough said.

“It’s a really positive thing to be able to capitalise on the benefits of that.

“(But) the PBS can’t keep up.”

Government defends investments in PBS

The government has reduced the maximum price on prescription medication multiple times since coming to office, with the PBS continually held up as a beacon of health policy by Australia’s major political players.

Health Minister Mark Butler on Friday announced a drug used to treat cerebral palsy was also being added to the scheme.

“Having already slashed the cost of medicines — with the largest cut to the cost of medicines in the history of the PBS in 2023 — we’ve gone even further, cutting the maximum price of a PBS medicine to $25, and frozen the maximum price for cardholders at $7.70 for the rest of the decade,” Butler told AAP.

“If we hadn’t made our investments in cheaper medicines, medicine prices would be as high as $50 a script this year.”

Cavanough said the government “deserves credit for the Cheaper Medicines reform, which has delivered genuine relief to millions of people, but this research shows that the policy isn’t helping almost half of all Australians”.

“Nearly half of all Australians are prescribed medicines that aren’t on the PBS, and for many of them, the situation is dire. When people are taking expired medication because they can’t afford to refill their script, it quickly changes from a minor policy gap into a serious public health problem,” he said.

“The government has shown it is willing to act boldly on medicines policy, but the question now is whether it is willing to go further.”

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