Trump could target our healthcare system next. We don’t need to panic
If there are retaliatory tariffs because of standing up for our PBS jewel, so be it. That would be unfortunate and unfair, but Australia can weather it.
There’s an all-seeing eye atop the White House scouring the world for evidence of nations acting counter to American corporate interests. And that eye has landed on a jewel of Australian public policy – our Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
The PBS is hated by Big Pharma and is anathema to the US brand of mercantilism that is being refreshed and supercharged by the second Trump administration.
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Richard Holden is Scientia Professor of Economics at UNSW Business School. Connect with Richard on Twitter.
Nick Coatsworth is a health reform advocate and doctoral scholar at the ANU School of Regulation and Governance.
