The maximum PBS co-payment for the general public is ever increasing
The rising co-payment for general patients, which is the price of a prescription for over 19 million people who don’t qualify for a concession card, is damaging the health of many Australians.
Many commonly used medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) now
cost patients $42.50 per prescription and will reach $50 per prescription by the
end of the decade.
This is a critical issue for people who require life-saving or preventative
medicines used for diabetes, asthma, heart failure, anaphylaxis and many more
illnesses.
Inflation is up to
3%and the cost of living is rising 1
MORE THAN
20%
of people aged 18-64 describe prescription medicine as unaffordable. 2
MORE THAN
900,000
Australians delayed or didn’t get a script filled in 2019-20 due to cost. 3
Healthcare affordability is becoming a major pain point for household budgets
1 in 5 Australians describes prescription medicines as unaffordable. In fact, almost a million of us delayed or didn’t fill a script in 2019-20 due to cost. Families, retirees and low-income earners are particularly struggling with the rising cost of living while our research has found women are disproportionately impacted by this issue.
We’re asking for the government to lower the cost of prescription medicines.
The PBS was created to ensure everyone in Australian
can access affordable
health care no matter their situation. Whilst the concessional price of
medicines has remained indexed to inflation, the general patient co-payment
has skyrocketed, doubling since the year 2000.
We are asking the government to lower the cost of medicines so Australians
don’t have to choose between their health and other essentials like food,
rent or petrol.