Around 800,000 asthma sufferers have cut back on food to pay for their medication, figures suggest.
Charity Asthma UK said more than a third of patients were facing the “impossible choice” between buying food or life-saving inhalers.
Around 2.3 million asthma sufferers pay for prescriptions in England. But 35% of 7,500 surveyed said they had to choose between food and medication, equating to around 805,000 patients.
And 21% said they also had to cut back on essential bills to fund their treatment.
Single mum Tenesha Robertson, 36, is a care co-ordinator who lives in London.
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She said: “I couldn’t afford to pay for gas and electricity and medication. I shouldn’t be put in the impossible position of having to choose whether I should buy life-saving medication or heating my home.”
Asthma UK’s Dr Samantha Walker said: “Hundreds of thousands of people with asthma are faced with an impossible choice – cut back on essentials like food and bills or cut back on medication. Around a million are cutting back on taking their medication.
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“This puts them at risk of being hospitalised or even dying of an asthma attack.”
Charges for NHS prescriptions in England have shot up by 26% to £9 since 2010.
Asthma UK’s Stop Unfair Asthma Prescription Charges campaign aims to make medication free for sufferers, as it is for certain other long-term illnesses.
