The government’s big move today is to introduce legislation to meet its election commitment of lowering the price of medicines on the PBS to no more than $25.
From the statement:
The Albanese Government is making cheaper medicines even cheaper – with legislation being introduced to Parliament this week that will mean a prescription on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) will cost Australians no more than $25 from 1 January next year.
The last time PBS medicines cost no more than $25 was 2004 – more than 20 years ago.
This is another key cost of living measure delivered by the Albanese Government.
Having already slashed the cost of medicines – with the largest cut to the cost of medicines in the history of the PBS in 2023 – we’re now going even further.
This is a more than 20 per cent cut in the maximum cost of PBS medicines, which will save Australians over $200 million each year.
Making medicines cheaper is a tangible way we’re helping with the cost of living.
Pensioners and concession cardholders will continue to benefit from the freeze to the cost of their PBS medicines, with the cost frozen at its current level of $7.70 until 2030.
1 Comment
Is there any way to get an idea about how expensive it would be without PBS? We can look at US prices, but that's fucked. Is there a functional State that does pricing how it would be here without PBS? (Im not even sure what that means).
Is there a global prices on top 25 pbs items?