Hepatitis Victoria is currently examining the implications of the increased health costs for people living with viral hepatitis, anticipating that proposed fee increases will be too costly and deter people living with viral hepatitis from accessing primary healthcare.
The proposed fee increases – the $7 GP co-payment fee, $7 co-contribution payments for out-of-hospital pathology and $5 for PBS prescriptions – would mean costs for people with chronic diseases like viral hepatitis will quickly prove too much for many in the already marginalised hepatitis community.
“We believe these fees provide a disincentive to people managing their health. Throwing up monetary barriers adds to the barriers people living with hepatitis face, particularly when treatments for the condition can affect people’s ability to work,” said Hepatitis Victoria CEO Melanie Eagle.
She added, “Due to the importance of early detection of the disease and the associated costs with managing a chronic health condition such as hepatitis, we, like many others, are concerned at any measures that deter people from accessing primary healthcare, testing and access to medication through the PBS.”
While Federal Health Minister Peter Dutton said recently that chronic conditions should be managed by primary healthcare, Hepatitis Victoria predicts that the fees his government is proposing will stop people from accessing these services. “The government’s nod to the financial burden chronically ill people face is to allow one free visit for the preparation of a GP management plan or the preparation of a team care arrangement, but this is only a small amount of the overall costs that people living with viral hepatitis will be faced with from diagnosis through to advanced treatment,” said Ms Eagle.
Hepatitis Victoria is not alone in its criticism of the government’s proposed changes, with public polls and other health-related organisations voicing their concerns. “We support current critique on this issue and particularly point to the impact the proposals will have on the 448,000 people in Australia who are living with viral hepatitis,” Ms Eagle said.
Approximately 2% of Australians live with chronic viral hepatitis. This is over 17 times the number of people living with HIV/AIDS, nearly double the number of people with dementia, and more than 10 times the number of people diagnosed annually with breast cancer and prostate cancer combined.