Families are calling for better support for families managing the cost of a severe allergy, as a federal parliamentary inquiry examines the incidence of and response to anaphylaxis and allergies in Australia - which has among the highest rates in the world
Ashley Wong has spent almost every day of her 18 years battling severe allergies, and it's come at a cost - with her family forced to pay $20,000 for medications alone over the past five years.
To avoid a life-threatening allergic reaction caused by one of the conditions, she must not consume dairy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, corn, barley, shellfish or sesame, and uses a mixture of prescription medications - not all of them covered by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme - and over-the-counter treatments to keep her symptoms at bay.
The cost of buying the drug does not count towards the family's Medicare safety net threshold, which only applies to PBS medications. "Ashley can't put her clothes outside to dry on the washing line because they could get allergens on them," she said. The allergist, who was appointed to the Order of Australia this year for her contribution to allergy and clinical immunology, said it was not clear why Australia had such high levels of allergic disease, but that processed food consumption and high caesarean birth rates were possible contributors.
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