COST BARRIERS TO PRESCRIBED MEDICATIONS
Almost 1 in ten people aged 15 years and over who had been prescribed medication in the past year delayed getting or did not get their prescribed medication because of the cost (9% or about one million people). Queensland had the highest incidence of people delaying or not getting prescribed medication (10%) and Tasmania and ACT had the lowest (5% and 4% respectively).
People without private health insurance were around twice as likely to have found cost a barrier to getting their medication than people with private health insurance (12% and 6% respectively).
This rate may be affected by people's age, as private health insurance coverage increases with age and older people were less likely than younger people to have found the cost of medication a barrier (due in part to concessions for PBS medication). People aged 65 years and over were less likely than people in any other age group to have delayed getting or not bought prescribed medication because of the cost (3%).
Men were less likely than women to have delayed getting or not got prescribed medication because of the cost (7% compared with 10%). More information can be found in Tables 2.1 to 2.3.
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