Script for hip- pocket pain
HEALTH Minister Greg Hunt has changed his script – and the change is about to hit your hip pocket.
The cost of prescription medicine could rise by $ 1 per script as a result of Mr Hunt reaching an agreement with the Pharmacy Guild of Australia.
Mr Hunt has confirmed he will review a policy that allows pharmacists to discount the $ 6.30 and $ 38.80 prices consumers have to pay for subsidised prescription medicines.
The discounts took effect in January last year but News Corp has revealed only 28 per cent of scripts were attracting the discounts, which are voluntary.
The big discounting chain Chemist Warehouse has been offering consumers the lower prices but small suburban pharmacies have refused to discount.
Suburban chemists don’t like the discount because it’s the chemist, not the Government, that loses money when the discount is offered.
The Pharmacy Guild has been fighting the discount.
“We have a clear position: we oppose it,” Pharmacy Guild president George Tambassis told a conference nce in 2015.
Former health minster Sussan Ley promised consumers the discount could save patients up to $ 70 a year on prescription medicine.
“For some pharmacies, this discount is an opportunity for them to explore a new market to compete on price,” she said.
However, in a compact drawn up with the Pharmacy Guild ahead of the Budget, Mr Hunt bowed to the chemists’ demands for the $ 1 discount to be reviewed.
“The Government has indicated it is willing to review the optional co- payment discount of up to $ 1 per script following the report of the Pharmacy Remuneration and Regulation Review,” the compact said.
However, Mr Hunt said his willingness to undertake this review “does not indicate a current predisposition to dis- continue the $ 1 discount”. He also moved to continue other serious restrictions on competition in the pharmacy sector by retaining rules that stop a new chemist opening within 1.5km of an existing chemist.
A taxpayer- funded inquiry was investigating the location rules and whether they were needed but the minister made the decision before releasing its report, which remained secret.