These researchers used data from SoFIE-Health (wave 3), an add-on to the Statistics New Zealand-led longitudinal Survey of Family, Income and Employment (SoFIE) (n=18,320), to examine ethnic differences in financial barriers to access to prescription medication in New Zealand. Māori and Pacific people were more likely than NZ Europeans to defer buying a prescription at least once during the past 12 months because they could not afford the cost of the prescription (OR 2.98 vs OR 3.52). After adjusting for potential confounders the ORs were attenuated to 1.31 for Māori people and to 2.17 for Pacific people. Those who deferred buying medications because of cost were also more likely to report poor health status, high/very high psychological stress and the presence of two or more comorbid conditions.
