<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>339702</docID> <postdate>2025-03-06 07:22:30</postdate> <headline>Medications out of reach for women as living costs bite</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-339703" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20230901001836902332-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>Woman are twice as likely as men to be unable to afford prescription meds, survey results show. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Tess Ikonomou</strong> in Canberra</span></p> <p><strong>Women are twice as likely as men to say they cannot afford a prescription for themselves or their families, data reveals as pharmacists urge greater funding to help patients access life-saving medication.</strong></p> <p>One in four women could not afford a script over the past three years amid cost-of-living pressures, according to research commissioned by the Pharmacy Guild.</p> <p>This rose to one-in-three women for those aged 35-54, according to a survey of more than 2800 people. The number reporting money as a barrier to accessing medication has also risen by one-third since 2022.</p> <p>Overall, one in five Australians reported skipping a prescription, which increases to one-in-three people in regional areas.</p> <p>The findings have prompted the pharmacy sector to call for the prescription co-payment to be reduced from $30 to $19.</p> <p>Sydney pharmacist and Pharmacy Guild national councillor Catherine Bronger said she saw women every day who struggle to pay for prescriptions.</p> <p>"You shouldn't have to choose between medication, it shouldn't be a luxury and we shouldn't be having this conversation," she said.</p> <p>"Women tend to be the ones that come into the pharmacy, for their families and for themselves. It can be for a chronic condition like preventative asthma medications, where they would wait a little longer and stretch out their meds a little bit."</p> <p>It can be difficult talking to patients about them skipping a script as people were quite proud and did not want to admit they couldn't afford their medication, Ms Bronger said.</p> <p>The Albanese government has pledged to boost funding for Medicare by $8.5 billion if re-elected. The coalition has matched that commitment, in addition to promising $500 million for extra mental health support.</p> </body>