Medicine costs halved for struggling Australians, delivering cost-of-living relief

Many vulnerable Australians struggling to afford essential medicines will have their costs effectively halved for 325 selected medicines with the federal government’s announcement that they can get two-months’ supply with a single patient co-payment.

AMA President, Professor Robson said it would provide relief for many consumers battling with steep rises in the cost of living with an “increasing proportion of Australians skipping medicines just because they can’t afford them”.

Professor Robson said, “This is terrific news for consumers taking these medications as they will now be able to visit the chemist once every two months instead of every month, but still pay a single co-payment instead of visiting and paying each and every month.

“We know patients are struggling to afford essential medicines as cost-of-living increases continue to bite the household budget and research tells us some patients are skipping medicines because of this and that just should not be happening.

“Today’s announcement effectively halves the cost of these medicines for patients and means more affordable medicines now are a reality for these patients.

“It will deliver significant savings to patients of up to $180 a year per selected medicine, potentially also save the taxpayer and upholds the independence of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) process. The AMA commends the government on this smart triple win policy.”

Professor Robson told the Guardian that the policy had enormous potential to make it easier to see a GP.

“A lot of people won’t have to go for repeat prescriptions and that will free up an enormous number of GP appointments to allow people who have changes in conditions to get appointments,” he said.

Professor Robson said the government’s decision backed the independent expert, the PBAC, which made its initial recommendation in 2018.

“…the can was kicked down the road, but we are delighted that the Minister has finally listened to that advice and is acting on it,” he told ABC News.

“There are a lot of things that we could potentially do. One of the things that people don’t recognise is that many pharmacists probably want to offer a further discount to patients and do the right thing, but they are regulated to the maximum discount they can give is a dollar.

“We think that is something else the government can look at in time, but at the moment we are delighted the Minister has taken the advice and we think this is going to be a huge step forward for millions of Australians who have chronic health problems that require medication and we fully support this.”

AMA Vice President Dr Danielle McMullen told Seven’s Sunrise that the government’s announcement would deliver cheaper and more convenient medications and healthcare for people with chronic conditions.

“These changes announced today will ease pressure on patients and that is what matters most. We know Australians are facing cost of living pressures and this will make their care cheaper and more accessible.”

Dr McMullen said pharmacists were doing a “fantastic job” on advising patients on medicine safety and the AMA would continue to work closely with pharmacists and “this means that patients will go there less often but be able to get more care and hopefully more time for discussing their medicines with their pharmacist”.

The AMA last week released a Checklist of Cheaper Medicines of measures to help reduce the cost of medicines.