I work as a hospital pharmacist on a cardiology ward. Many patients admitted to hospital for a heart attack were previously on no medications and are often discharged home with the recommendation for at least five medications.
I help the health-care team to ensure patients are on the best medication regimens; I also spend time helping patients understand what the medications are for, as well as review the costs of medications with them and what coverage they have.
Medication costs are covered in hospital, but not necessarily when patients are discharged to home. The most cost-effective, typical post-heart attack regimen is $150 for a three-month supply, but it can be closer to $450 or more, depending on the medications and the doses.
That cost can be difficult for some persons and families.
Just the other day, a patient鈥檚 wife started crying as I told her about the costs, and she explained that being able to cover them would be quite challenging for their family. Applying for funding resources can have slow turnaround times and that is not acceptable, considering someone has a new stent in their heart and will need their medications immediately.
I have seen cases where families were not eligible to receive adequate coverage for their financial situation.
For some, these costs can lead to stress or simply not taking medications, both of which are detrimental to health. It is time for a universal, single-payer pharmacare system in sa国际传媒 to help alleviate the financial burden related to medications.
Income-based drug plans, those with deductibles set as a percentage of income, protect households from the most catastrophic financial burdens, but do not encourage access to the medicines patients need on a day-to-day basis. Implementing national pharmacare won鈥檛 be easy, but it must be done.
Hopefully, by removing financial barriers to taking medications, people can stay on their medications and stay out of the hospital.
Celia Culley works in Victoria鈥檚 health-care system.
