Impact of consumer copayments for subsidised medicines on health services use and outcomes: a protocol using linked administrative data from Western Australia.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Across the world, health systems are adopting approaches to manage rising healthcare costs. One common strategy is a medication copayments scheme where consumers make a contribution (copayment) towards the cost of their dispensed medicines, with remaining costs subsidised by the health insurance service, which in Australia is the Federal Government.In Australia, copayments have tended to increase in proportion to inflation, but in January 2005, the copayment increased substantially more than inflation. Results from aggregated dispensing data showed that this increase led to a significant decrease in the use of several medicines. The aim of this study is to determine the demographic and clinical characteristics of individuals ceasing or reducing statin medication use fo

SUBMITTER: Seaman KL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5577882 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature