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Strypey

"Eliminating a small co-payment appears to have had a substantial effect on patients’ risk of being hospitalised. Given the small amount of revenue gathered from the charges, and the comparative large costs of hospitalisations, the results suggest that these charges are likely to increase the overall cost of healthcare, as well as exacerbate ethnic inequalities."

, 2023

doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-090

BioMed CentralImpact of removing prescription co-payments on the use of costly health services: a pragmatic randomised controlled trial - BMC Health Services ResearchObjectives To determine whether exempting people (with high health needs and living in areas of high deprivation) from a $5 prescription charge reduces hospital use. Design Two-group parallel prospective randomised controlled trial. Setting People living in the community in various regions of New Zealand. Participants One thousand sixty one people who lived in areas of high socioeconomic deprivation, and either took medicines for diabetes, took antipsychotic medicines, or had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Of the 1053 who completed the study, just under half (49%) were Māori. Interventions Participants were individually randomized (1–1 ratio) to either be exempted from the standard $5 charge per prescription item for one year (2020-2021) (n = 591) or usual care (n = 469). Those in the intervention group did not pay the standard NZ$5 charge, and pharmacies billed the study for these. Participants continued to pay any other costs for prescription medicines. Those in the control group continued to pay all prescription charges for the year although they may have received one-off assistance from other agencies. Main outcome measures The primary outcome was length of stay (hospital bed-days). Secondary outcomes presented in this paper included: all-cause hospitalisations, hospitalisations for diabetes/mental health problems/COPD, deaths, and emergency department visits. Results The trial was under-powered because the recruitment target was not met. There was no statistically significant reduction in the primary outcome, hospital bed-days (IRR = 0.68, CI: 0.54 to 1.05). Participants in the intervention group were significantly less likely to be hospitalised during the study year than those in the control group (OR = 0.70, CI: 0.54 to 0.90). There were statistically significant reductions in the number of hospital admissions for mental health problems (IRR = 0.39, CI: 0.17 to 0.92), the number of admissions for COPD (IRR = 0.37, CI: 0.16 to 0.85), and length of stay for COPD (IRR 0.20, CI: 0.07 to 0.60). Apart from all-cause mortality and diabetes length of stay, all measures were better for the intervention group than the control group. Conclusions Eliminating a small co-payment appears to have had a substantial effect on patients’ risk of being hospitalised. Given the small amount of revenue gathered from the charges, and the comparative large costs of hospitalisations, the results suggest that these charges are likely to increase the overall cost of healthcare, as well as exacerbate ethnic inequalities. Trial registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR): ACTRN12618001486213 registered on 04/09/2018.
#health#PrescriptionCharges
Public
Strypey

So, evidence was published earlier this year (see previous post) that charging people $5 to pick up their prescribed medicine costs the health system more (in increased hospitalisations) than it brings in. So it's a no-brainer to abolish user-pays prescriptions, as the current government just did.

No sensible political party would campaign on putting that $5 charge back in place, right?

i.stuff.co.nz/national/politic

Oh.

StuffBudget 2023: National vows to bring back $5 prescription fees if electedThe Government is dropping the fee people pay when picking up their medicine at the pharmacy. National has promised to bring it back.
#Aotearoa#NZ#NZPolitics
Quiet public *
Strypey

Even ACT seem to be against the $5 prescription charge, according to this press release from 2019:

scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1910/S00

So they support the government acting on the peer-reviewed evidence and removing the charge, right?

"ACT Party leader David Seymour said the Government’s removal of prescription fees and subsidy of public transport would be 'eaten up by inflation driven by out-of-control Government spending'."

i.stuff.co.nz/national/politic

Oh.

www.scoop.co.nz What is the Purpose of the $5 Prescription Co-Payment? | Scoop News “As disruption rips through the prescription dispensing market, the Minister of Health has to show leadership,' says ACT Leader David Seymour.
Strypey

Oh and as for the fairy tale about...

"... inflation driven by out-of-control Government spending."

... the evidence says otherwise:

rooseveltinstitute.org/publica

So why do pro-austerity political parties and pundits keep making this fraudulent claim?

Roosevelt InstituteRoosevelt Institute - The Causes of and Responses to Today’s InflationThe evidence is overwhelming: were there no supply problems, aggregate demand would not be excessive. The inflation we’ve experienced is best understood as resulting from industry-specific problems that many OECD countries are facing. A strong labor market is part of the solution, not the problem.
#inflation#PublicSpending
Sep 09, 2023, 10:17 PM·Public·Fedilab
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