After spending a bit of time in the garden over Christmas, I found myself in need of a prescription cream to treat some recurring eczema on my hands. Alas the doctor’s surgery is closed so I went to the pharmacy to see what they could offer as an alternative. Turns out I no longer need a prescription. The pharmacist explained that as a result of the $3 limit on prescription charges, many more pharmaceuticals are now available as pharmacy only medicine, no prescription required.
The change has come about as a way of side-stepping the $3 price limit. But of course for someone like me with an occassional health need, if it means one less visit to the doctor then even if I pay a slightly higher price for the product, I’m still better off. So the lesson in all of this for me has been to check with the pharmacist before going to the GP. Apparently there are quite a few products that no longer require a prescription.
I didn’t know they had a cure for Gingervitis?
Sounds like quackery to me. You should the pharmacist immediately.
The best thing for your affliction is a burqa.
I meant report him…oops typing faster than thinking.
Yay for saving money
is this Redalert or Bluealert? I’m sure you have set us up Chris as this “seems” to support the Nat Govt .. go on, put us out of our misery.
@blowhole – somehow I suspect that’s not a new problem for you.
@jabba – I’m not sure the Nats can take credit for this one, but on the whole I’m not afraid to give them credit where it is due. Not everything divides along party lines you know…
Omigod, not a reasonable politician. Heh heh.
Doesnt quite make sense. The $3 limit on patient charge would hardly cover allmost all medicines. And by itself would not be a reason to take it off the schedule.
Not requiring a prescription means it has moved into a different class of medicines, not that the price has anything to do with it. It may be that it doesnt require a doctors prescription but a pharmacists consultation is required.
The common treatment of 1%hydrocortisone is still a fully funded medicine.(15 Dec 2009)
Could be the pharmacist is selling a higher priced item that has a different formulation?
Yes nice to see you promoting user pays. Well done.
Watch out for the slap across the head from Uncle Trevor though.
I can attest that this happens, but sometimes you can get the same stuff both ways. Take paracetamol, for instance. I can get an enormous amount with a prescription and it only costs $3, but if I tried to buy the same amount over the counter, it would cost heaps more.
I haven’t read of any Nat policy changes in this area. Was this the case before the government change?
One advantage of over the counter is that you don’t need to visit your doctor and pay $30, $40 or more for the visit. I thought I remembered Labour having an eventual plan to cover all GP visits (last group was the middle-aged). Naturally, this won’t happen until we get another government change.
@Andrew – the $3 prescriptions were a Labour policy, and the cost of seeing a GP fell dramatically during Labour’s tenure. National has been very sceptical about Labour’s focus on primary health, so that could change…
A great thing that Labour did for our country.
Why dont you save on pharmacy costs and just get a can of harden up.
User pays? hardly, user avoided paying is the point!
Still, removing the cap on fees might encourage a return to Doctors first…
Hope the hands are healed Chris.
Removing the cap on fees will encourage a return to doctors ? ??
You mean an exodus of patients if the fees rise. My last consulation was free, Im not sure why but I understand the current system isnt based on getting a fixed fee for every visit.
This should have been promoted through the roof, but other than reading some brochure in health speak in the waiting room I wouldnt really know the answer!
Yeah, you’re right ghostw/w/nz… What I was meaning was that it would be likely that pharmacies would return to the old way of requiring prescription allocation of drugs, forcing people to go to the doctor first. With the fee cap off, people will be forced to go to the doctor or just get more sick.
Still, Nanny Key gets her way and we won’t be able to buy disprin without a prescription… Pseudoephadrine for example – Phenylephrine is rubbish, but in Key’s mind will fix the P problem! ha ha ha… Sure sure.
I digress… You’re right to say that patients will likely not visit the doctor if they get sick and that’s a problem. I refuse to go even now because it’s still expensive… My inarticulately made point was just that the system will rebalance if fees come off and that’s only going to hurt the poor and working poor.
@Kaine T – hitting the poor and working poor (which actually amounts to a large % of kiwis) is exactly what the Nats are good at.
Chris, where would the average Kiwi find out what prescriptions no longer require doc visits? That would be a useful bit of info for all, I suspect. (its possibly online somewhere but I confess to being a bit lazy about looking)
For the quickest result ring your pharmacy and speak to a Pharmacist.
For cheapest result see Pharmacist first to ascertain if health problem requires a doctor’s visit, utilise their training/experience in distinguishing minor ailment vs major disease indicator (note: not all will get it right first time, just like Doctor)
for ascertaining if item requires script:
http://www.medsafe.govt.nz/Profs/Class/classintro.asp
for ascertaining if item will be funded:
http://www.pharmac.govt.nz/patients/Schedule
@Linda – thanks for that, very useful.
Paul – yeah and the Tories would tell you it’s policies are designed to help those most abjectly affected by them. Tiresome isn’t it?
@kane – too right its tiresome – one does wonder just how much longer the average joe/jody blogg kiwi will keep on believing the PR spin that keeps coming out – I for one am over it.
@Linda – cheers for that – very good advice!!
I don’t understand the how a $3 limit on prescriptions has any relevance in this context. This blog doesn’t say, but it implies the $3 limit is fairly recent. I discovered the trick of visiting a pharmacy before a doctor 15 years ago. I went to the local pharmacy to get some cough syrup. A sales assistant swooped on me before I had a chance to take a bottle of Benadryl off the shelf, and she disappeared out the back and returned with a plain brown bottle with a typed label from the pharmacy, which I recognised as having previously been prescribed by a doctor. Since that day I always visit the pharmacy first and have saved myself a fortune in doctor’s fees. Hydrocortisone cream is another item that I’ve previously been prescribed, but which I just buy off the shelf at the pharmacy now.
The right questions at the pharmacy are necessary e.g.
- how much would this be on prescription?
- is there a cheaper brand available?
The pharmacy staff have no obligation to consider your budget unless you make it a factor in the discussion.
Often the cost can be reduced by utilising a generic or house brand, or even just ensuring the pharmacy has correct information such as community services card details [so correct patient co-payment (e.g. $3/$10/$15)is applied].