Niall: The costs of taking multiple medicines – Medicines expenses can be high
Listen to patients and health professionals speak about their experience with taking multiple medicines.
Niall
Male
Age at interview: 45
Number of medicines: 7
Cultural background: British (Caucasian)
The cost of Niall’s medicines contributes to the overall high expense of his healthcare.
I'll spend well over $100 a month on medications, so that's over $1000 a year, out of pocket. Now, I also have my psychologist's appointments, which is fairly regular and so exceeds the subsidised plan, so that's quite an expense. It exceeds what my private health insurance will cover fairly quickly. I also have dental and periodontal bills, so if you take my all up healthcare, I have out-of-pocket expenses of several thousand dollars a year, so it's not an insubstantial amount. People complain about rises in electricity bills. My medications and healthcare bills are multiples of my electricity bills, but also, being in healthcare policy, I'm aware that if I was living with these conditions in a number of other countries, my medication and prescription medicine bills would be much, much higher. Fortunately, we don't live in a country where you get bankrupt by being ill. It can be a bit of an impost at times, but it could be worse.
The Living with multiple medicines project was developed in collaboration with Healthtalk Australia.