The Turnbull government has confirmed it will press ahead with removing common medicines such as paracetamol and aspirin from the list of subsidised drugs.
The health minister, Sussan Ley, said the changes were motivated by concerns that concessional patients “were sometimes paying two to three times the retail price of common medicines when they bought them through a prescription rather than over the counter”.
Ley began laying the ground to make such changes earlier this year, but she confirmed on Tuesday that 17 types of common over-the-counter medicines for conditions such as headaches, heartburn and constipation would be taken off the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) from 1 January.
Citing advice from the pharmaceutical benefits advisory committee, Ley said patients and taxpayers were unnecessarily paying higher prices to fill prescriptions for medicines that could often be bought cheaper off the shelf.
“For example, we currently have concession-card holders right now paying $6.10 for a $2 pack of paracetamol if they buy it using a PBS-subsidised prescription, which also attracts a taxpayer subsidy on top,” she said.
The measure would save taxpayers about $500m over five years by reducing the cost of subsidising medicines, while “reducing the out-of-pocket costs for many patients so they did not need to reach the PBS safety net as quickly or at all”.
“The market for over-the-counter medicines is also very competitive and therefore patients previously paying the fixed prescription co-payment now have the ability to use their consumer power and shop around for the best price,” she said.
It is understood 5.9m scripts for paracetamol were processed last financial year, costing taxpayers $68m.
A 500mg pack of 100 paracetamol tablets can be bought for as little as $1.89 over the counter without a script at Chemist Warehouse. The government says that when the product is obtained with a PBS-subsidised prescription, it costs $12.07 in total, of which $6.10 is paid by the patient through the PBS concessional co-payment and the remaining $5.97 is paid by taxpayers.
Other products to be removed from the general schedule PBS list include aspirin tablets, folic acid tablets, glycerol suppositories for constipation, and hydrocortisone creams for skin inflammation.
A number of more expensive and emergency over-the-counter drugs would remain subsidised on the PBS for patients with a prescription, including ventolin for asthma, adrenalin epipens for allergies and various nutritional supplements.
The changes would not prevent patients from consulting their pharmacist or doctor about the use of over-the-counter medicines, and Ley encouraged them to continue to do so.
Ley said the committee had recommended retaining PBS access to the medicines for certain patient groups in particular circumstances, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, paraplegic and quadriplegic patients, and palliative care patients, as well as alternative arrangements for veterans.
A list of the drugs to be removed and the exceptions is available on the PBS website (PDF).
