Chemists monopoly smacks of a rip-off

AUSTRALIA’S drug subsidy scheme is actually inflating the price of many common medicines, an investigation by News Corp has found.

The dispensing, administration and handling fees paid to chemists to stick a label on drugs are in some cases five to six times the cost of the medicines they are dispensing.

The scheme is pushing up the price of hundreds of medicines. The most prescribed pill in Australia — cholesterollowering Atorvastatin — costs just $2.95 from the manufacturer, but a cocktail of fees and charges causes the price to skyrocket to $20.43.

The price inflation is set to get even worse as the Government embarks on negotiating a controversial new five-year funding deal with the Pharmacy Guild of Australia.

Almost one in every three dollars spent on the nation’s medicine subsidy scheme is now going into the pockets of chemists, who have a Government-mandated monopoly on dispensing drugs.

Despite the hit to patients’ hip pockets, the Consumers Health Forum has been denied a seat at the negotiating table over the next community pharmacy agreement.

Traditionally, the agreement is conducted between pharmacy owners, represented by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, and the Government.

Former health department chief Stephen Duckett, now at the Grattan Institute, said the pharmacy industry was “grossly over-regulated”.

Chemist Warehouse chief operating officer Mario Tascone said his 400 pharmacies massively discounted fees and supplied Atorvastatin for just $5.99. But many consumers were unable to access the stores because of restrictive rules.

“There are 60 regional towns blocked from a Chemist Warehouse store by current pharmacy rules … it feels like an episode of Utopia,” he said.

A spokesperson for Health Minister Greg Hunt said: “The Government is committed to making medicines affordable.”