PATIENT advocacy group, Better Access Australia (BAA) says changes to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) Safety Net Threshold will do little to improved medicines affordabilty.
Commenting on the reforms announced in the Federal Budget, BAA Chair, Feliticy McNeill, said the failure to cut the PBS general co-payment from $42.50 was "not fair", with patients who do not qualify for concessional rates having to wait "to fill 34 scripts for medicine cost relief".
"This measure will do nothing to protect the majority of Australians from the increasing weekly unaffordability of medicines," McNeill said.
"The Government's failure to reduce the cost of co-payments for general patients is made worse by their decision last year to increase the cost of over 1,750 low-cost medicines on 1 October 2022 by as much as $2.07 per script.
"Our PBS lacks nuance and understanding of a patient's capacity to pay."
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