Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Objective:

Australia has high out-of-pocket costs for medical and non-medical treatments. The ‘cost to attend’ is seldom added to these estimates.

Method:

A sequence of 92 participants attending a free Anxiety Disorders Clinic at an inner city public hospital were surveyed about the costs to attend one appointment, including costs such as private /public transport costs and lost income.

Results:

We found that these out-of-pocket costs were on average AUD$57 per person to attend an appointment at a free point-of-service clinic. Of the 45% who experienced financial burden from attending, the majority reported only slight burden.

Conclusion:

This level of ‘cost to attend’ a free outpatient treatment clinic is non-trivial given people with anxiety and depressive disorders, like many others with chronic disorders, will need at least 6–10 visits to complete a course of treatment.

Keywords

Out-of-pocket costs cost to attend non-medical costs

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Yusuf

Leeder

. Can’t escape it: the out-of-pocket cost of health care in Australia. Med J Aust 2013; 199: 475–478.

Hynd

Roughead

Preen

. Increased patient co-payments and changes in PBS-subsidised prescription medicines dispensed in Western Australia. Aust N Z J Public Health 2009; 33: 246–252.

Essue

Kelly

Roberts

. We can’t afford my chronic illness! The out-of-pocket burden associated with managing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in western Sydney, Australia. J Health Serv Res Policy 2011; 16: 226–231.

Group MCfHPaN. Report 2: Financial Stress and Health, http://sydney.edu.au/medicine/public-health/menzies-health-policy/research/2008surveyfinancialrelease.pdf (2008, accessed 10 March 2015).

Lapsley

March

Tribe

. Living with rheumatoid arthritis: expenditures, health status, and social impact on patients. Ann Rheum Dis 2002; 61: 818–821.

Dewey

Thrift

Mihalopoulos

. ‘Out of pocket’ costs to stroke patients during the first year after stroke - results from the North East Melbourne Stroke Incidence Study. J Clin Neurosci 2004; 11: 134–137.

Gordon

LGFM

Chambers

Dunn

. Fuel, beds, meals and meds: out of pocket expenses for patients with cancer in rural Queensland. Cancer Forum 2009; 33: 206–212.

Office

. https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Income-and-deductions/Deductions-you-can-claim/Vehicle-and-travel-expenses/Car-expenses (2013, accessed 10 March 2015).

McRae

Yen

Jeon

. Multimorbidity is associated with higher out-of-pocket spending: a study of older Australians with multiple chronic conditions. Aust J Primary Health 2013; 19: 144–149.

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.25 MB

The non-medical out-of-pocket costs to attend a free anxiety disorders treatment clinic in Australia