AMA Calls for Combined MBS/PBS Safety Net Following Government PBS Crackdown
AMA President, Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, said today a combined PBS and MBS safety net would help alleviate the financial pressure faced by many Australians, following the Government's crackdown on cost blowouts in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
Dr Haikerwal said older Australians and families with chronically ill children who depend on medication for the prevention and management of ongoing conditions such as diabetes, asthma and mental health problems, have been hit hard by the measures, which have been in place since January this year.
"The Government's National Medicines Policy is supposed to give patients timely access to medicines at an affordable price," Dr Haikerwal said.
"But the increase in co-payments is putting medicines out of reach of many people, especially people without concession cards.
"Eighty per cent of prescriptions are in the hands of concession cardholders. But 20 per cent of prescriptions go to people who have to pay the full price of $28.60. It is this group who are probably not having medicines dispensed.
"Concerns over VIOXX, hormone replacement therapy and some antidepressants have seen a fall in prescriptions.
"But numbers are down because people are not getting their scripts filled.
"Health care card holders face an 80 cent rise per prescription and for all other patients the co-payment rose by $4.90 to $28.60 per prescription.
"A 20 per cent leap in PBS co-payments is a big ask for single income families on the average wage who might have two or three kids with asthma, for example.
"The Government may argue that a slowdown in the growth of the PBS reflects good tight management and that its strategies are working.
"But the number of prescriptions filled in the last half of the financial year was almost flat, compared to the same period in the previous year.
"At the same time we are seeing a rise in the number of GP visits.
"Unless there are other structural factors at play, a good part of the PBS slowdown has been achieved because patients are not filling prescriptions.
"This does not bode well for the short or long term health of the Australian community.
"Every dollar spent on pharmaceuticals leads to a savings of around $3 to $4 in other parts of the health system.
"The Government's efforts to rein in the PBS represents false economy and will only lead to greater costs elsewhere in the health system without some sort of financial support that allows disadvantaged people to access life saving and life enhancing medicines at a price they can afford," Dr Haikerwal said.
9 August 2005
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