The cost of hundreds of Australian medicines is to be halved under reforms to allow people receive two months’ worth of medication for the price of one prescription.
Announcing the change, Minister for Health and Aged Care, Mark Butler said that from 1 September, general patients would be able save up to $180 a year if their medicine was able to be prescribed for 60 days, while concession card holders would save up to $43.80 a year per medicine.
“At least six million Australians will halve their medicine costs and need fewer visits to the GP and pharmacist to get the medicine they use the most, saving patients more than $1.6 billion over the next four years,” Mr Butler said.
“Introducing 60-day prescribing for stable, ongoing conditions was a recommendation of the clinical experts at the independent Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) in 2018,” he said.
“Once fully implemented, the 60-day prescribing policy will provide doctors with the option to prescribe a two-month supply of more than 320 medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) to Australians with stable, ongoing conditions.
“The current dispensing limit is for a one-month supply only.”
Mr Butler said hundreds of medicines for conditions like heart disease, cholesterol, Crohn’s disease and hypertension would be cheaper.
He said the PBAC considered the safety profile of the medicines that it recommended, and doctors would make a clinical decision about whether 30-day or 60-day prescribing was appropriate for the individual circumstances of the patients they treat.
“While eligible Australians will be able to buy double the medicine on single script, overall demand for medicines will remain unchanged,” the Minister for Health and Aged Care said.
“This reform won’t affect medicine availability and it won’t add to shortages.”
Mr Butler said the change would bring Australia into line with New Zealand, the United Kingdom, France and Canada, where patients already have access to multiple month medications on a single prescription.
