Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

I thank my friend and colleague the member for Jagajaga for that question because she at the last election promised cheaper medicines to her community, and in just our first 12 months we have delivered three waves of cheaper medicines reforms, which are saving hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars for those patients. On Friday we delivered the fourth wave, allowing almost four million Australian patients to ask their doctor for a 60-day script for almost a hundred common medicines for ongoing health conditions, things like heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, osteoporosis and much more. Two scripts for the price of one are effectively halving the cost of medicines for almost four million Australians. This isn't just good for their hip pocket, because we know from overseas evidence it's also good for their health, improving medication compliance by as much as 20 per cent.

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