General News
20 March, 2023
Prices of prescriptions could fall even further
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia has announced plans to seek further reductions in the cost of medication - after meds covered by the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (PBS) were recently reduced from $42.50 to $30. A national survey commissioned by the...
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia has announced plans to seek further reductions in the cost of medication - after meds covered by the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (PBS) were recently reduced from $42.50 to $30.
A national survey commissioned by the Guild last year revealed the affordability of healthcare was the biggest hip pocket concern among polled voters.
The Guild’s national president, Professor Trent Twomey, said the reduction would be a big help to over 19 million Australian patients, especially those who had been struggling to afford their medicines.
“In 2019-20 we learned that 900,000 Australian patients did not get a script filled because they could not afford it,” he said.
“As health professionals, this disturbed us immensely and led to our 'Affordable Medicines Now' campaign which pressured both parties to commit to lowering the cost of PBS medicines in the lead-up to the last election.”
The Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme is a federal subsidy for medication which began in 1948 as a way of reducing, or in certain cases eliminating, the high cost of prescription medications.
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia’s executive director Suzanne Greenwood, said the $12.50 reduction in costs could save an individual $150 per year for a monthly prescription.
“We were hearing accounts of people having to decide which medicines they could afford and which they would forgo, which child would have to do without their medicine that month, how could they extend a month’s supply over a longer period of time,” she said.
“Even pharmacists being told by patients they simply would not be getting the medicines they needed because they couldn’t afford them.
“This is the first time in the 75-year history of the PBS that there has been a reduction in the co-payment and is the result of a campaign led by the Guild with support from other patient groups, but fundamentally initiated by community pharmacists across the country.”
Professor Twomey said the campaign to make medicines universally affordable is far from over, and that the Guild plans to push for further decreases.
“We are now pushing to lower the maximum co-payment of PBS medicines to $19,” he said.
“Reducing the maximum co-payment to $19 will mean an additional 30 per cent of PBS medicines are covered.”
Ms Greenwood said further reduction would not only benefit patients, but would improve the healthcare system as a whole.