PBS co-payment roll-out
January 5, 2016
THE Department of Health
officially rolled out its
Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
this week, which includes an
expanded Safety Net and more
medicines to ”better match
resupply intervals to the listed
quantity and use of the medicine”.
Effective from January 01, the
Government says that the revised
scheme has been brought on to
align with changes in the consumer
pricing index and will see general
co-payment increase from $37.70
to $38.30; concessional patient
co-payments to grow from $6.10
to $6.20; with the general patient
Safety Net upped from $1,453.90 to
$1,475.70; while the concessional
patient safety net threshold surges
from $366.00 to $372.00.
Despite Government reasoning,
the PBS scheme has come under
fire this week, with the Pharmacy
Guild of Australia crying foul play,
yesterday stating that the one
dollar discount is a cost that’s
“borne by the pharmacy, not the
Government”.
“The discount is in fact a budget
cut, saving the Government an
estimated $373 million by delaying
patient access to the safety net,”
said the Guild.
“The Guild does not support - and
has never supported - discounting
of the patient co-payment, as it
is contrary to the principle of a
universal PBS”.
Meanwhile, the Department
of Health has updated its site to
include a full summary of changes
in relation to the new Schedule of
Pharmaceutical Benefits.
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