You probably heard a lot this week about something that is called the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
It has been in the news because both parties of parliament have announced that they will drop the costs of PBS medication to $ 25.
There are also fear that the United States will impose rates on Australian medicines because American pharmaceutical giants do not notice that the PBS sometimes subsidizes cheaper generic medicines, instead of expensive brand name.
Lowering the PBBS-granted medicine costs is great news for people such as Tayla Purves, who has cystic fibrosis (CF) and needs the groundbreaking drug Trikafta to function.
She estimates that she spends more than $ 240 a month on several medicines on prescription for her CF and other associated disorders.
It was added to the PBS last year and means from next year that she only pays $ 25 a month for the Wonder and Drug – something that Mrs. Purves describes as a “welcome relief”.
‘It is so welcome, you only hear about the costs rise. It is so refreshing to hear about the costs of something you need to function [dropping]”She said.
So what exactly is the PBS and how makes the medicine cheaper?
We have the answers for you below.
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What is the PBS?
The PBS is the pharmaceutical benefit schedule.
It is a government subsidy program that means that Australians receive medicines at an affordable price.
It was introduced by Ben Chifley’s Labor Government in 1948, and today means that Australians get a whole series of medicines cheaper than they could otherwise.
How does it work?
According to the scheme, the federal government, with the help of experts from the pharmaceutical benefit advisory committee (PBAC), is negotiating prices for certain drugs on prescription with drug makers.
By actually buying in bulk for the entire country in bulk, the government gets medication cheaper and can deliver more medicines to everyone at affordable costs.
For expensive medicines, it subsidizes the costs by covering the majority of the price and asking patients only to pay a small co-payment.
The PBAC also decides whether the mention of a medicine for money is for taxpayers. For example, it may decide not to subsidize an expensive cancer medicine that only has limited evidence about whether it helps to treat the cancer, or that it stipulates that the proven benefit for patients is not sufficient to justify the costs for taxpayers.
How many do PBS medication cost?
There are two main prizes for PBS Medicines.
There is a general rate for most people. That is currently $ 31.60.
If you are a concession card holder, the maximum you pay for a script is $ 7.70.
The medicines may cost much more than that – sometimes thousands of dollars – but the government picks up the rest of the tab, so that you do not pay more than the PBS rates.
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But on Thursday Labor announced, if chosen, it would reduce the maximum co-payment to just $ 25 for a general patient. And the coalition quickly said it will match that.
You can even pay less than if the PBS was able to negotiate an even lower price, for example an antibiotic that could sell for just $ 14.
And some pharmaceutical companies – if they have a medicine that is fundamentally cheap to produce – take no trouble getting a PBS subsidy and so you can simply pay the full price for that, but it is still under the usual PBS price.
And to further complicate things, you can actually pay up to 90c less than the PBS price, because pharmacists can sometimes apply a discount.
Will all medicines become cheaper?
No.
The maximum of $ 25 only applies to medicines on the PBS schedule.
There are more than 900 medicines on the PBS schedule and more than 5,000 different brands, which many, but not all.
Other medicines – such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) patches – are not issued on the PBS as what is known as a private script and can vary enormously in price.
It also does not apply to things that are sold freely or ready-made, such as vitamins. There are some exceptions, including some contraceptive pills and antibiotics for urinary tract infections (UTIs), which are now freely available in most states.
How do I check if my medication is on the PBS?
There are a few ways to check. The PBS has a search function on its website That is fairly simple.
Your treat doctor and pharmacist will also know.
You can also look at the script yourself and see if the PBS check box is checked.
But if you pay more than $ 31.60 or $ 7.70, this is not on the PBS.
Labor has promised to reduce the price of PBS-granted medication when it returns to the government. ((Photo through Myriam Zilles on Infativate))
Who is eligible for the PBS?
All Australians with a Medicare card have access to the PBS.
Australia also has mutual similarities that overseas visitors have access to the scheme, and we have people with the United Kingdom, Ireland, Nieuw -Zeeland, Malta, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Belgium and Slovenia.
Shall I save money with the new changes?
Yes, with the maximum script that falls to $ 25, that is a huge saving for people who take a lot of medicines.
Sometimes there is what a brand name is called Premium, which on average adds a few dollars of certain medicines if a patient decides that he wants a certain brand name version of the medicine and not a cheaper brand or generic competitor.
The change is a major decrease in $ 42.50, which was the maximum price in 2020 before the current government brought it to $ 31.60.
However, if you get private scripts, the price will not change.
And if you are a concession card holder, the price of your medicines will not change – but they are already only $ 7.70.
A re-elected Labor government says that changes from January next year would take effect. The government has also frozen these co-payments for five years, so that the amounts of $ 25 and $ 7.70 will only change in 2030.
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What would potential rates mean for my scripts?
The answer is probably not much. A rate is a tax that the US would impose on Australian medicines that have been exported to the US, so it has no influence on medicines that are imported and sold here.
Most medicines are made by China and India and there is only a handful of factories in Australia.
It is also important to remember that although about 8.5 percent of Australian exports to the US are pharmaceutical products, the vast majority of the worldwide sought -after blood products have been made by the CSL company that help people as victims of burns. Rates about this would only hurt us.
But the pharmaceutical industry is worldwide and rates can have flow effects that are difficult to predict. The industry here says it is closely monitoring.
Why do American pharmaceutical companies ask for rates?
Pundits are of the opinion that the general goal is to try the Australian government the way in which the PBS is actively changing, so that its pharmaceutical companies can sell more brand medicines here.
They do not like cheaper generic medicines that compete with their branded medicines are subsidized under the PBS. However, the government has said that it does not affect the PBS.
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