Pharmacists are now able to discount the cost of a prescription subsidised through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) for the first time as a result of new laws that came into effect on January 1.
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Minister for Health Sussan Ley said consumers can now access discounts of up to $1 on every PBS-subsidised script they purchased throughout the year – potentially saving patients upwards of $70 annually.
Ms Ley said pensioners and other concession card holders would particularly benefit, given 80 per cent of PBS scripts were concessional, and would see their co-payment potentially fall from $6.20 to $5.20.
“When it comes to prescription medicines, every dollar counts,” Ms Ley said.
“This is particularly true if you are on a pension and buying multiple medicines each month.
“If you are a concession card holder who fills 40 PBS-subsidised scripts in a year, then you have the opportunity to save as much as $40. If you fill 70 scripts, then you can save $70. The power is really now in the consumer’s hands.”
Ms Ley said the discount was optional to allow the introduction of greater competition – which an across the board discount would not have achieved – and she expected its take up to be an “evolution, not a revolution” over time.
“Endless reviews have called for consumers to have access to greater competition in this area and the ability to discount Government-subsidised PBS scripts is a sensible step in the right direction,” Ms Ley said.
“The point is it introduces greater competition, which in turn provides consumers greater power and choice, and that has been my number one focus throughout these reforms.”
Ms Ley said consumers should also be aware that the PBS safety net threshold was a dollar amount – $372 for a concessional patient and $1475.70 for a general patient – not a set number of scripts.
Ms Ley said this meant it did not matter if a patient took 60 or 70 scripts to reach safety net protections, they would still pay the same amount before they reached the eligibility thresholds.
“The $1 discount will not impact a patient’s access to protections,” Ms Ley said.
“If a patient pays less for their prescriptions thanks to this discount and they don’t reach their safety net as a result, that’s a positive because it means they are spending less money overall on prescription medicines.
“Claims otherwise are deliberately misleading and consumers should be wary of the motives behind such misinformation and actively question them.”
The PBS co-payment for concession card holders is indexed on January 1 of each year and is $6.20 for concession card holders and $38.30 for general patients.
