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ISSUE 4 AUGUST
Letters to the Editor

Prescription copayments and opioid substitution therapy

  • Tony Balint

The Editorial Executive Committee welcomes letters, which should be less than 250 words. Before a decision to publish is made, letters which refer to a published article may be sent to the author for a response. Any letter may be sent to an expert for comment. When letters are published, they are usually accompanied in the same issue by their responses or comments. The Committee screens out discourteous, inaccurate or libellous statements. The letters are sub-edited before publication. Authors are required to declare any conflicts of interest. The Committee's decision on publication is final.


 

Letter to the Editor

Editor, – One issue not mentioned by Michael Ortiz in his editorial on prescription copayments (Aust Prescr2013;36:2-3) is the weekly fee paid by people on the Opioid Substitution Program for their methadone or buprenorphine. This program is intended for people who have an opioid addiction. The medicine itself is fully funded by government, but the pharmacy charges a dispensing fee of around $35 per week to compensate for the time and diligence required to dispense the medicine and monitor compliance.

This fee is not offset by the safety net and is about $1800 per year. No other sector of the community is required to pay this much for medicines. It is cheaper than a heroin habit, but the savings to government and the community are huge in terms of policing illegal drugs, crime reduction, court and imprisonment costs, and hepatitis C rates and treatment.

As a prescriber in the program, I see first-hand the benefits for all opioid addictions including the abuse of prescription opioids. These people can now lead reasonably normal lives and contribute to their community.

The case for generous government reimbursement of the pharmacist dispensing fee is compelling.

Tony Balint GP
Blue Horizon Clinic
Yarra Junction, Vic.

FURTHER READING

McDonough M. Opioid treatment of opioid addiction.Aust Prescr 2013;36:83-7.

Tony Balint

GP, Blue Horizon Clinic, Yarra Junction, Vic.