New contraceptive pills listed on PBS and set to cut costs for some 50,000 women

Around 50,000 women will see the cost of their oral contraceptive pills fall from $380 a year to as little as $30.80 after the first such listing on the PBS in more than 30 years. See the pills listed.

The first new oral contraceptive pills to be listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in more than 30 years will be available from Saturday from as little as $30.80 a year, compared to around $380 without the subsidy.

From March 1, the commonly used contraceptive pills Yaz and Yasmin will be listed on the PBS benefiting an estimated 50,000 women a year.

It follows Health Minister Mark Butler asking the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee to consider how to extend PBS benefits to the newer generation of oral contraceptives.

Nicola Ciuffini whose contraceptive pill Yaz is now on the PBS, saving her hundreds of dollars. Picture supplied by Nicola Ciuffini.

These will now cost $126.40 a year, or $30.80 a year with a concession card, and work is underway towards listing other contraceptive pills.

As well as being a contraceptive, Yaz is indicated to treat moderate acne and symptoms of premenstrual dysphoric disorder.

Mr Butler said: “With no new contraceptive pill or menopausal hormone therapy added to the PBS in decades, it was clear the PBS wasn’t working for women.

“That’s why I asked our medicines experts to find a way to right that wrong. It’s about time Australian women had more choice, lower costs and better health care.”

Chief executive of Family Planning Alliance Australia, Daile Kelleher, said the addition of the oral contraceptives to the PBS is significant in ensuring women have access to a wider range and choice of affordable contraceptive options.

“Everyone deserves the right to access effective and affordable contraceptive options – and to decide if and when they have children,” she said.

“It’s critical that we work to break down any barriers to real choice of contraception and provide people with the options that best suit their needs.”

Primary schoolteacher Nicola Ciuffini, 27, is thrilled with the listing after taking Yaz for a decade on the advice of her gynaecologist.

“It is about time, it will make it more accessible for women who might have trouble meeting the cost,” she said.

“It has cost about $1 a day and while I am in a position to afford it, not everyone can — I am looking forward to having a bit of extra cash thanks to this PBS listing.

“It will be a saving for me but more importantly will make this form of birth control more easily available to women who might be struggling financially.”

The oral contraceptive pill was approved for distribution in Australia in 1961, on the written prescription of a medical practitioner.

“Access was therefore under the control of doctors, and dependent on their attitudes, particularly with regard to prescribing for unmarried women,” according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Social Trends report.

Oral contraceptives work by preventing the release of eggs from the ovaries (ovulation) and changing the cervical mucus and the lining of the uterus to prevent pregnancy.

Originally published as New contraceptive pills listed on PBS and set to cut costs for some 50,000 women