Labor reveals health pledge to cap cost of prescriptions
Australians will pay no more than $25 a prescription for certain medicines under a federal government plan to lower prices.
From January 1, the maximum amount patients would pay for prescription medicines listed on the government’s subsidy scheme will fall from $30 to $25, if Labor is re-elected.
Four out of five Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) prescription medicines would become cheaper, saving Australians $200 million every year and reducing the program’s patient cost cap to its lowest level in two decades.
“Cheaper medicines are good for the hip pocket and good for your health,” Health Minister Mark Butler said.
The $689 million proposal will be included in the federal budget, to be handed down on Tuesday, and is part of Labor’s broader platform to improve Australia’s healthcare system.
The Coalition was quick to match the proposal.
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“With cheaper medicines, more free GP visits and a stronger Medicare, we say to Australians: We’ve got your back,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
Albanese later declared the nation’s pharmaceutical scheme is “not for sale”, amid fears the US may soon target prescription medications for tariffs.
“Our Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme is not for sale. Labor created it, Labor is strengthening it, and under Labor, it never will be on the negotiating table,” he said on Thursday.
“What we’re going to do is continue to advocate for Australia’s national interests, not the interests of Big Pharma.
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“The act of increasing tariffs, of course, is always an act of self harm, putting increased costs on people who are consumers, where the tariff is imposed, increased costs on them doesn’t change the costs of Australians.”
According to Treasury estimates, US President Donald Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports are expected to directly impact Australia’s GDP by less than 0.02 per cent by 2030.
But pharmaceuticals represent a bigger slice of the US-Australia trade relationship and American pharmaceuticals representatives are pushing the Trump administration to impose further tariffs and have said Australia should be placed on a “watch list”.
“Egregious and discriminatory pricing policies in several markets, including Canada, Japan and Korea, continue to undervalue American innovation, threaten billions of dollars in lost sales and put American competitiveness, jobs and exports at risk,” Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America wrote in its submission.
The group claims PBS listings dictate access to the Australian market but said “unnecessary” supplemental data requests and other administrative motions caused significant delays.
It said the PBS’s pricing policies could have a “chilling effect” that prevented Australians from gaining fast access to new medicines.
The federal government continues to negotiate for tariff exemptions with the US administration.
