Cheaper scripts and cheaper visits to the doctor if we do this

Pressure is growing on the government to implement recommendations that would slash the cost of more than 140 commonly used medications and mean cheaper GP visits.

Patients would save up to $180 a year on their prescription medicines under a plan to allow them to obtain two months’ supply of pills instead of just one.

The change could also deliver hundreds of millions of dollars in savings to taxpayers as the federal government desperately searches for funds to reform Medicare.

Medicare rebates have increased at well below the inflation rate for decades and, as doctors abandon bulk billing, hundreds of millions of dollars in savings would allow the government to increase rebates for a GP visit by $5 from $39.75 to $45.

The Government’s independent medicines advisory body the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) has recommended the change apply to 143 commonly used medicines including drugs for blood pressure, cholesterol, antibiotics, breast cancer and migraines.

The plan is being backed by the Australian Medical Association (AMA), the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), the Consumer’s Health Forum and former health department chief Professor Stephen Duckett.

Former Health Department chief and former Grattan Institute health policy expert Professor Stephen Duckett.

However, despite promising to implement every recommendation of the PBAC, the Morrison Government backed away from the change after the powerful Pharmacy Guild of Australia complained it would slash chemist’s incomes.

AMA President Professor Steve Robson has written to Labor’s Health Minister Mark Butler urging him to include the measure in the May budget.

“We think that there is an opportunity for your Government to show leadership and move forward with this independent recommendation. It is a safe, practical change that will make a difference to patients. The profession will support you in moving forward to implement the proposal,” the letter said.

The RACGP has also backed the measure in its pre-Budget submission.

The Minister has said Medicare is in the worst state in 40 years as bulk billing plunges and wait times to see a GP soar, but so far he has only $250 million a year over three years to reform the system.

AMA president professor Steve Robson. Picture: Supplied

Federal Labor Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler. Picture: Getty

At present pharmacies can only dispense one months’ supply of subsidised medicine at a time.

Under the proposed change, consumers would save money because they would only have to pay the PBS co-payment of $7.30 for pensioners and $30 for general patients six times a year instead of 12 times.

If a person uses more than one medicine the savings could be even greater, up to $360 a year if you use two subsidised prescriptions.

And it would be more convenient for patients who would have to travel to get prescriptions filled half as many times each year.

The Albanese Government cut prescription costs for general consumers from $42 to $30 per script on January 1 to honour an election promise.

But millions of pensioners saw the cost of their medicine soar by 50 cents per script and they are now paying $7.30 a month for each drug.

The powerful Pharmacy Guild has donated more than $1 million to political parties in the past five years including $139,542 to Labor; $86,558 to the Liberal Party and $37,620 to the National Party in 2017-18.

Using its political influence it has shut out supermarkets from selling prescription medicines and each election it gets both sides of politics to pledge to preserve the system which means only chemists can own pharmacies and restrict where new ones can open.

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