Australians are paying five times more than Britons for medical care, causing many people with chronic health conditions to forgo treatment because it's too expensive.

Nearly half of Australians living with depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions have skipped medication or therapy because of cost, according to a study by James Cook University and the NSW Bureau of Health Information.

As had more than 30 per cent of those with asthma and emphysema, 27 per cent of those with diabetes, 25 per cent with arthritis and 20 per cent of cancer patients, according to the study recently published in the Australian Journal of Primary Health.

Asthmatic Stephanie Horan, 27, was clinically dead for 12 minutes after she stopped her medication for social reasons and suffered a near-catastrophic asthma attack as a teenager.