Jan: The costs of taking multiple medicines – The impact of reduced work hours and low income
Listen to patients and health professionals speak about their experience with taking multiple medicines.
Jan
Female
Age at interview: Undisclosed
Number of medicines: 15
Cultural background: Anglo-Australian
Jan’s first 12 months of retirement were necessarily self-funded, which posed problems for the affordability of her medicines. Now she is on an Age Pension, it is much easier.
The cost of them was an issue. When I first retired, I wasn't initially on an Age Pension and therefore wasn't … didn't have the Health Care Card. And so, for the first 12 months or so after I retired, it was a bit of a struggle sometimes, buying so many medications, because I was just a self-funded retiree for a while.
When I was eligible to get a part pension, that all changed and I'm now paying, what, $5 or $6 for the medications, so it's no longer a factor and I guess if I was … I mean, I wasn't a self-funded retiree because I had lots of money. I was a self-funded retiree because I wasn't yet eligible for the pension. I suppose if I was a self-funded retiree because I had too much money to get the pension, those costs wouldn't have been a factor anyway. And as I say, now, it's a bit of a non-issue really, because it's so well subsidised, which is great.
The Living with multiple medicines project was developed in collaboration with Healthtalk Australia.