I have just read this report on a comparative study on prescription costs.

It is written from a NZ perspective but there are still US statistics- I thought I would post it anyway.



Cheaper drug access, but safety risks still high
28 November 2005

New Zealanders have cheaper access to medicines than people in comparable countries – but patients are still facing unacceptably high safety risks in the health system, a new survey shows.

The International Health Policy Survey of Sicker Adults 2005, by a US-based health researcher, the Commonwealth Fund, found that patients in Australia, Canada and the United States were more likely not to pick up a prescription because of cost than New Zealanders.

However, the report's writers found that cost was still a prohibitive barrier in all countries: 19 per cent of New Zealand patients failed to pick up prescriptions because of the cost.

This compared with 20 per cent of Canadians, 22 per cent of Australians and 40 per cent of Americans.

A new combined lobby group, the Access to Medicines Coalition (ATM), which was launched last week, is demanding a review of the way medicines are approved for subsidy and supply, and a review of Pharmac, the Government's drug funding agency.

Patients and physicians have been increasingly critical of the way medicines are funded in New Zealand, with some people suffering rare conditions saying they have been forced to spend tens of thousands of dollars on unsubsidised treatments.

However, the US study showed that along with Britain, New Zealand had the lowest percentage of patients paying more than $US100 ($NZ145.47) per month for their prescriptions – three per cent.

Australia's rate (9 per cent) was three times higher, while in the United States, the figure was 10 times higher (30 per cent).

Yet the report criticised all countries surveyed for "high rates of safety risks, failure to co-ordinate care during transitions, inadequate communication, and a lack of support for chronically ill patients".

One in four (25 per cent) of New Zealanders surveyed reported being the victim of medical errors: receiving wrong medications or dosage, incorrect test results or delays in getting abnormal test results.

The United States had the worst rate, with 34 per cent reporting medical errors in their treatment.

Of all those surveyed, between 61 and 83 per cent said health providers did not tell them about mistakes.

There were large variations in waiting times between different countries: while 58 per cent of New Zealanders were able to get same-day initial appointments, the waiting times for elective surgery and specialists was shortest in Germany and the United States.

The researchers concluded that all these problems required policy changes that "transcend current payment and delivery systems".

Pharmac's chief executive, Wayne McNee, said the

tudy confirmed that "where there are direct costs to patients, they tend to be low in New Zealand compared with other countries".

"We already know that New Zealanders are more likely to have their prescription government-subsidised than people in those countries," he said.

In New Zealand 80 per cent of medicines sold are government-subsidised, compared with 54 per cent in Australia, 37 per cent in Canada and 19 per cent in the United States.