Maryan
STREET
Health Spokesperson
14 February 2013 MEDIA STATEMENT
Kiwis hit hard by prescription fee hike

The recent hike in prescription charges is having dreadful and possibly life-threatening consequences, Labour’s Health spokesperson Maryan Street says.

“Pharmacists have warned Tony Ryall about the changes in the pharmacy contract and the increase in charges, saying that ‘It blatantly threatens patient safety’.

“With the move to $5 an item, increasing numbers of people are not picking up their scripts, or are being forced to choose between which medications they can afford to pick up.

“On top of the prescription fee hike pharmacists are now also having to charge when dispensing meds in daily-dose blister packs, thus further increasing the cost.

“In one case an elderly Christchurch man, who has to take 10 medicines daily, is having to pay an extra $6 every week – over and above his $5 per item prescription fee - for his blister pack.

“He’s ‘lucky’. When his wife rang around other pharmacies in her area, she found the cost to make up the packs varied, from between $5 and $10.

“The blister packs give many elderly people and their families the confidence that the right medication is being taken at the right time. If people cannot afford to pay extra for them, they risk over-medicating or under-medicating by mistake.

“Tony Ryall cannot play games with people’s lives like this. Making savings is one thing; threatening people’s lives is quite another.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media

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