05/01/2024
Hello Neighbours!
The advent of the new year has left me in something of a contemplative mood. What has got me lost in thought right now though is the cost of medicine. We talked about it a lot last year, as did the Government.
Speaking of the Government, did you know that the PBS co-payment went up around 5.5% on the first of January? The year before that the concession co-payment went up around 7.3%. In all, in just over 12 months the concessional co-payment has increased by just over 13%. For the elderly, the disabled, the most vulnerable people in our community. For them things just got a little bit harder.
The general co-payment of course came down last year from around $42 to $30 after a long campaign by the Pharmacy Guild. It is going up again. The Pharmacy Guild is continuing to advocate for the general co-payment to be further reduced to $19. A move we think will make a significant improvement in many people’s lives.
The Government continues to promote 60 day scripts (which are often 56 day scripts, but I digress), which they claim will help 6 million people (there are 25.5 million people in Australia). A policy that only helps a minority of people, some of the time, and that will leave others worse off through increasing pharmacy costs in other areas.
People like Karen that the ABC talks about in this article I will link below. Karen is a grandmother with terminal cancer. Her story is heartbreaking. She doesn’t qualify for 60 day scripts. In fact, many of her medications aren’t covered by the PBS at all. And the Government just increased her PBS co-payment. We should be making medicines for Karen more affordable, not less.
There are a couple of other interesting points in that article I would draw your attention to. Chronic Pain Australia found that one in four patients sometimes could not afford their medications. This is supported by a survey from the Australian Patients Association which states that nearly three in four Australians are either delaying or skipping basic health care for financial reasons. And we just made medicines more expensive. During a cost of living crisis.
The Government points out that their 60 day scripts and the reduced general co-payment have helped more than 2 million Australians. Which is less than 8% of the population, and which is certainly not the 6 million people the Government claimed would be better off under 60 day scripts. And people like Karen just end up paying more.
The ABC article I talk about above is at
Prescriptions may be subsidised but the cost of over-the-counter pharmacy products is adding up for the chronically ill.
