Half-price medicines in jeopardy as Coalition refuses support

The Australian Medical Association has warned that patients’ hip pockets will suffer in a highly critical letter to Opposition leader Peter Dutton. See why.

Exclusive: Half-price prescription medicines are at risk, with the Coalition yet to make clear whether it will support the policy that faces a parliamentary showdown this week.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has accused the Coalition of being gutless for refusing to support the cheaper script changes, recommended by an independent expert advisory body when it was in office in 2018.

In a highly critical letter to Opposition leader Peter Dutton obtained by News Corp, the doctor’s lobby group warns patient’s hip pockets will suffer if the Coalition tries to block the change again.

“The AMA would be extraordinarily disappointed if the Coalition seeks to block this measure. Your previous failure to implement 60-day dispensing along with a history of cuts to health funding while in Government, including the extended Medicare Indexation freeze, has undeniably led to increased out of pocket costs for patients,” AMA president Professor Steve Robson said in the letter.

“At a time when many in the community are struggling with cost-of-living pressures, your public positioning on 60-day dispensing suggests that you are intent on having patients continue to absorb unnecessary financial pain with all the negative consequences this brings in terms of access to health care.”

Pharmacist holding medicine box and capsule pack in pharmacy drugstore.

The cheaper scripts are due to start from September 1, meaning Health Minister Mark Butler must table regulations in parliament to enact the policy this week.

Under the policy the price of 92 commonly-used medicines for conditions including Cardiovascular disease, Crohn’s disease, Gout, Heart failure, High cholesterol, Hypertension, Osteoporosis and Ulcerative colitis will halve from September 1.

And consumers will be able to access 60 days’ supply of the medicines instead of the current 30 days.

A further 208 medicines will have their prices slashed in half over coming years under the policy announced as a key cost of living reduction measure in the May budget.

However, the parliament can disallow the regulations and stop the cheaper scripts from coming into effect.

MPs are under assault from a furious lobbying campaign from the Pharmacy Guild which claims the policy will affect the profits chemist’s make from the $18.3 billion taxpayer funded Community Pharmacy Agreement.

This agreement sets the fees the government pays chemists to dispense subsidised medicines and News Corp has previously revealed how the secret pharmacy pay deal pushes the price of a $3 medicine up to $20.

Health Minister Mark Butler. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Opposition leader Peter Dutton. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Government data shows on average each pharmacy makes a gross profit of $1.27 million a year.

The entire $1.2 billion the government saves from the half price scripts measure is being reinvested in pharmacy programs.

And last week Mr Butler handed out an extra $150 million to help cash strapped rural pharmacies cope with the new policy.

The Coalition has supported the Pharmacy Guild campaign against the changes and has accused the Albanese Government of failing to properly consult pharmacists over the changes.

The Greens have also raised concerns about the impact the changes will have on rural pharmacies.

If the opposition and two independents or the Opposition and the Greens join forces in the Senate they could disallow the regulation enacting the cheaper script policy, blocking it from taking effect.

They have 15 days after the regulation is tabled to move a motion to disallow the changes.

Opposition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston said the Coalition strongly supports affordable access to medicines for all Australians but refused to reveal its position on the regulations.

“We do not want to see any community pharmacies closed as a result of this government’s actions,” she said.

The Coalition is calling on the Labor Government to come back to the table with the sector and immediately negotiate a new Community Pharmacy Agreement.

A Pharmacy Guild Spokesperson said: “All we are asking is for more time so that patients, particularly in rural and regional Australia don’t lose access to primary health care.”

The Greens were approached for comment.