Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme cost sharing, patient cost consciousness and prescription affordability

To assess patients' prescription medicine cost consciousness and explore the implications of further cost sharing increases for affordability.

A telephone interview survey of 818 randomly selected prescription medicine users (408 concession card holders, 410 general beneficiaries) resident in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales, Australia.

Degree of prescription cost consciousness; attitudes towards prescription use and cost sharing; self-rated capacity to manage further co-payment increases and differences between concession card holders and general beneficiaries in these measures.

The majority of participants were cost conscious medicine users who act responsibly towards medicine use and believe that cost sharing is appropriate. Although there were no differences in cost consciousness scores, card holders appeared more sensitive to prescription costs and increases. Conversely, general beneficiaries were more likely to report difficulties with cost (avoiding seeing a doctor, not collecting prescription medicines, stopping or reducing the dose of a prescribed medicine). Although almost 75% of respondents reported that a co-payment increase would cause financial difficulty, only 28% indicated this would change their medicine use.

These results suggest that most Australian patients are cost conscious but many are also close to facing difficulties with prescription costs. Further increases in PBS cost sharing could compromise prescription affordability, particularly for general beneficiaries.