Health experts are calling on the Federal Government to reduce cost-of-living pressures by making medicines cheaper and healthcare easier to access.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) says the May Budget is an opportunity for the Government to do this, by acting on reforms that include:
- Extending the length of prescriptions to save patients time and money.
- Allowing a larger supply of medicines in one go. They say a two-month supply would halve dispensing fees.
- Investigating the benefits of removing the $1 discount rule, which caps discounts on medicines.
- Overhauling Australia’s anti-competitive pharmacy ownership and location laws, which they say inflate costs for patients.
- Making prescribing faster and easier for GPs, so they have more time for patient care by streamlining the Pharmaceutical Benefits Schedule (PBS) prescribing system, which they says is unnecessarily complex.
‘Health system crisis must be tackled from all sides’
“We have a cost-of-living crisis and a health system crisis on our hands, and people across Australia are feeling the crunch and struggling to access or afford the healthcare and medicines they need,” says RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins.
The health system crisis must be tackled from all sides, says Dr Higgins, including by making medicines cheaper and easier to access.
Dr Higgins says the solution to this is simple reforms that the Government “can and should make to save patients’ money and time”. These reforms, she adds, will also free up GPs “so we can see more patients”.
“This includes extending the length of prescriptions. If GPs could give longer prescriptions of 15 months instead of the usual 6 months to suitable patients, it would make a big difference. GPs should have the flexibility to decide what’s right for their patients,” says Dr Higgins.
“Another easy way to lower costs is to allow patients to get a larger supply of medicines in one go by increasing the supply interval for certain medicines.
“This will save the government money on dispensing fees which could in turn be used to further subsidise patient care.
“These reforms are an easy way to help those most in need, including people who are older and those with chronic conditions who often need multiple medicines.
“It will save money for individual patients, as well as significant savings for the overall health budget and taxpayers.
“We also support further investigation of the benefits to patients in changing the $1 discount rule. This prevents pharmacies from discounting medicines that cost more than the current co-payment of $30 by more than $1. Other countries like New Zealand don’t have this rule, so pharmacies can offer significant discounts on some medicines,” she says.
PBS prescribing system reforms needed
Dr Higgins also calls for changes to the PBS prescribing system to reduce administration time and free up GPs to see patients.
“The current PBS authority system is time-consuming and an administrative burden for GPs, with questionable if any benefits for patients,” she says.
“If this system was updated and streamlined it would result in shorter consults, lower Medicare billings, and GPs would have more time to spend with patients, rather than cumbersome administration.
“Australia needs to seriously explore alternative models to lower the cost of medicines and increase access and choice for people across Australia. Other models such as supermarket pharmacies, online pharmacies and automated dispensing machines are used widely in other western countries like the US and UK and could make a real difference here, particularly in rural communities,” Dr Higgins says.
‘Too many people missing out’
“Everyone deserves access to affordable and high-quality primary care and medicines, no matter their postcode or income,” Dr Higgins says.
“But too many people are missing out, which is causing more people to go to the hospital and more pressure on our overstretched emergency care system.
“The Government needs to stem the bleeding in this Budget by providing urgent relief to Australians facing growing out-of-pocket costs for healthcare. And we are continuing to call for an increase in Medicare rebates, including for longer complex consultations.
“The government should also use the Budget to act on these reforms to make medicines cheaper and easier to access. It is an easy way to help Australians battling rising costs at a time when they really need it, as well as reducing overall healthcare costs, and freeing up GPs to spend more time with patients,” she says.
