Medicines listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) will become $10 cheaper for general patients from 01 January 2023, if the Coalition is re-elected. 

The cut to the PBS general co-payment mirrors a measure erroneously announced as part of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Cost of Living Support and Other Measures) Bill 2022, by Assistant Treasurer, Michael Sukkar, but was subsequently scrubbed from the parliamentary record, Hansard (PD 01 April).

Announcing the election pledge, Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, said the decision to reduce the general co-payment from $42.50 to $32.50 would benefit up to 19 million Australians. 

"This is the single most significant change to the cost of and access to medications since the PBS was introduced more than 70 years ago," he said. 

While the cut falls short of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia’s call for a $19 maximum co-payment, the organisation’s President, Professor Trent Twomey, described the move as a “genuine win for patients”. 

“Community pharmacies see patients struggling to afford medicines from prescription to prescription and from pay-cheque to paycheque,” he said. 

“As the cost of living rises, patients are increasingly finding themselves being forced to choose between putting food on the table or buying the medicines they and their families need.

“We don’t want to see Australians ending up in emergency, in hospital, or with long-term damage to their health because they have been forced to delay or skip taking essential medicines due to cost.”

Twomey added the Coalition would become the first Government to reduce the PBS co-payment, if it is re-elected next month.

More details in Monday's issue of Pharmacy Daily.