I can't skip my medications,
I start to become acutely unwell very quickly.
So medications win over other things, but that is really hard.
My name's Katie, I'm 40 years old, and I live in Canberra.
I am chronically ill and disabled.
I manage well over 20 different conditions.
I've just had my 10th surgery in four years.
So I take about 16 different tablets a day, most of those are prescription medications.
The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, or PBS, dramatically dropped the price of prescription medication.
Previously, the maximum price of PBS medications and the vast majority of mine were $31.60.
The maximum you will now pay for a PBS subsidised script is $25.
You may be getting medications more cheaply, but this means that you won't pay more than $25.
For someone who only gets a one-off script, $6.60 might not sound like a huge saving, but for someone who gets multiple scripts every month like clockwork, it adds up really quickly.
Those savings can go back into my health care to ensure I'm my best self.
It's one of those things that just lowers the mental load.
I also obtain 60-day prescriptions for a lot of my medications, which just makes the planning and organisation so much easier and just makes it so much less likely that I'm going to run out.
There have been a lot of changes to medications, including the introduction of 60-day prescriptions.
Now the reduction of the co-payment down to $25.
It's really important to have a chat to your GP about what options will suit you.