Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—On behalf of the member for Robertson, I move:

That this House:

(1) notes the Government will have delivered cheaper medicines from 1 January 2023 with millions of Australians paying almost 30 per cent less for Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) scripts; and

(2) acknowledges that:

(a) for the first time in its 75-year history, the maximum cost of general scripts under the PBS will fall; and

(b) the Government is helping to ease the squeeze on household budgets for millions of Australians.

I'm delighted to support this motion moved by the member for Robertson, my dear friend Dr Gordon Reid, who is a great asset to this parliament. I'm also proud to be a member of the Albanese government, which introduced and passed the National Health Amendment (General Co-payment) Bill 2022. This legislation successfully resulted in cheaper medicines for almost 19 million Australians by ensuring that they pay almost 30 per cent less for their Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme scripts. This is a win for all Australians—old, young, families and individuals. It is now easier to access affordable medicines. Because of the increase in the cost-of-living stresses on families, and as a paediatrician, I fully supported this legislation, and I'm very grateful that we've been able to do this.

As a doctor, I understand how stressful the cost of medication can be for patients and their families. It can sometimes be the difference between food in the fridge and prescription forms being completed. Not infrequently I've had patients ask me, when given a list of medications they need for their child: 'What are the most important ones? Which ones should I get straightaway?' This is true for young families who may have several kids with asthma; kids with severe eczema, who require multiple treatments; children with multiple allergies; and children with a number of different disorders, including epilepsy. It was often a question for those families of whether they should get all the prescriptions filled when they were needed or whether they could delay at least some of them so they could afford the cost.

This legislation really is an achievement worth noting. No other government has delivered cheaper medicines at this rate. It's the first time that the cost of general scripts has fallen in the 75-year history of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, which, you would all be aware, was a great victory for the Chifley Labor government. In my electorate of Macarthur, this legislation is already having a significant effect and positive impact, with over 100,000 people already benefiting from this, ensuring more households can access medication that's needed with less financial pressure than before.

I note that the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, Ged Kearney, also mentioned in her speech during the second reading debate on the legislation how Australians living with diabetes, which is millions of people, are some of the biggest winners from this legislation. Children are also some of the biggest winners from this legislation, I would say, because they can now get all the treatments that they require. For example, an individual who has 13 scripts per year for diabetes medication will save over $160, as the cost of the script for nonpensioners has fallen from $42.50 to $30. Other winners are those who require a tablet for the prevention of stroke—an anticoagulant or blood-thinning medication. Under this legislation, those who require 26 scripts per year are saving $325 every year, which is a huge financial win for Australian patients and their families.

I believe that this legislation is also an important step in ensuring that healthcare access in Australia remains as equitable as possible. I think that at the moment, after 10 years of a coalition government, there are questions about the equity of access to health care in Australia. Health access is becoming increasingly difficult for some of the poorest Australians, and that's something that we must fight against. Health access is important for everyone, not just wealthy people, and the Albanese government is doing its best to reverse the trends of the last 10 years.

Medication is important for people across the age spectrum, from the very young to the very old. We have often heard how pharmacists are asked which the cheaper brand option is and whether certain medications are necessary or not. Labor has a strong commitment and a proud record in health care, and we're doing our best as part of our ideology, which is to deal with inequities in access to health care. I really look forward to the changes that the Albanese government will make to make health access much more equitable.

Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member. Is the motion seconded?

Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this motion about the PBS and health more generally. This motion also goes to the issue of the cost of living, which I want to touch on from a health point of view and more generally.

Firstly, I was very pleased to speak in support of legislation that brought in a dramatic reduction in the copayment. This, of course, was an announcement that the coalition made in the election campaign, and it was matched by the then Labor opposition. Last year in the parliament we had the opportunity to debate and pass that legislation, and it was an excellent outcome from a cost-of-living point of view—of course, making medicines cheaper for people. Listing these medicines on the PBS is something I was very proud of, that I was a part of the government that announced that in the campaign. We have bipartisanship around that principle by virtue of both sides agreeing to put it in place, and it was just a few months ago that we passed it through the parliament. It was a great outcome for the many millions of people who benefit from that reduction in the cost of the copayment through the PBS.

I'd also like to thank the TGA for the work that they do. They've had a lot of work to do over the last couple of years in dealing with members of the public and their views on them et cetera. I think we're lucky to have the system which we have, which starts with the TGA and moves through to PBS listing. I also really commend former Minister Greg Hunt for the enormous number of medicines that were listed on the PBS during his tenure. I remember all the times we would hear in the parliament about the new medicines that were listed on the PBS and how life changing they were for people who needed access to those treatments. Of course, a medicine being on the PBS can make an enormous difference: in some cases: it can go from someone having costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to costs in the hundreds of dollars per year for treatment that they absolutely deserve to have supported through the PBS system.

During COVID, while we were in government, we deployed the rollout of telehealth, which is important to couple with the issue of prescriptions. During that time, of course, it was very difficult to access a physical consultation with a GP. This was one of the great reforms, and it would have taken years--probably decades—were it not for the challenge of COVID and therefore a greater openness for faster reform. We delivered that telehealth rollout, and I think it's worth remembering that in the universal telehealth rollout we were able to deliver 100 million telehealth consultations to 17 million people. And, of course, those were bulk billed. It was quite transformative. When it comes to access for medicines and prescriptions, that's one of the things: telehealth is such an obvious opportunity for repeat prescriptions in particular, to have a very straightforward and smooth consultation via telehealth rather than having a physical appointment. Both the risk of that during COVID and also the reality that telehealth is much more efficient and quicker meant that we didn't have the situation that we do here at times, where people, because of access issues, have haven't had prescription medicine renewed and perhaps have a period of time where they go off that medication that they should be on. That's when the great outcomes of telehealth, coupled with PBS reforms that we announced, are an excellent cost-of-living outcome for people.

The risk that we have now is, even though we have a bipartisan dramatic reduction in the co-payment, what is going to happen in the years ahead as potential indexation increases within this scheme and other healthcare costs come into play when inflation is running so hot, at nearly eight per cent. That is what I do worry about. Having dramatically reduced the co-payment, is that going to be slowly eaten away by indexation increases that will come and hit all of those that access the PBS equally as hard as the high inflation environment that we're in right now comes into play? This is why it is disingenuous in this motion to crow about some spectacular cost-of-living outcome from this. The way things are structured and the way things will happen going forward, unless there are any changes, there will be some major indexation increases coming in the future, and it's up to the government to decide whether they will absorb that rather than pass it along to consumers.

Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the member for Robertson for giving us all this great opportunity to get up and speak about this policy, its life-saving abilities and its ability to reduce the pressures on costs of living. We know that Australian patients will, for the first time since the creation of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, get a much-needed cut to the cost of medicines, leaving more money and people's pockets to provide for their families. At a time when costs of living are going up, putting pressure on families across the country, this is one measure showing that the government is working hard to ensure that the relief it provides is targeted, measured and such that it does not add to the inflationary time bomb we inherited from the former government.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, more than 900,000 patients delayed or didn't get a script filled in 2019-2020 due to the cost of their medications. No-one should have to choose between filling prescriptions for life-saving medicines and affording their day-to-day necessities. Our determination to deliver cheaper medicines will help everyday Australians. Under the cheaper medicines policy, the co-payment has reduced from $42.50 to just $30. That's a whopping 29 per cent reduction. This means that for PBS medications you'll only pay up to $30 and the government covers the rest. This is having real-world benefits. This is helping everyday Australians.

Penelope, in my electorate of Bennelong, contacted me at the end of last year. She has been a carer for her mum for the past seven years. She had a broken ankle and was struggling to walk and make ends meet. She wanted to know how she could get access to cheaper medications to make some savings were she could. Because of the commitment of this government, from 1 January she has been saving on her medications. She now has more money in her budget to help provide for her family. Since 1 January, when this legislation came into effect, people like Penelope have been able to better afford medicines that they need to keep themselves and their family healthy. Someone taking one medicine a month is now saving $150 every year. A family with two or three medications is now saving between $300 and $450 a year. That's money back in the their pocket and back in the household budget. That's real cost-of-living relief targeting those who really need it. In Bennelong, cheaper medicine will mean over 87,000 patients putting money back into their pockets, money back for their families. They are now saving a collective amount of over $4.7 million a year.

Being a local, I've visited a number of pharmacies in my electorate since this policy was announced and since its implementation. I've been to the Amcal chemist in the Macquarie Centre and to see Kevin, Johnny and Vivienne at the North Ryde Pharmacy in Cox's Road Mall, as well as my little pharmacy round the corner at Blenheim Road. These pharmacies and their staff are trusted, they care for their patients and they have an intimate understanding of their patients' needs. They all have the same story: they told me of the scores of people that would go up to the counter with multiple scripts, asking the pharmacist: 'Which medicine can I afford to miss out on this week?' These stories are of people risking their health and going without the medicines they need because they can not afford their medications. They're not just stories; they're real people who are now, because of this government, paying less for their medicine. There are 87,000 patients in Bennelong will benefit from this, forming just one part of the 3.6 million Australians who have been saving on their medical scripts since 1 January under this government. We know our communities and we know that vulnerable Australians deserve to be supported. That's why we've taken every opportunity, particularly at this time, to ease the cost of living.

As I close, I pay particular tribute to the members of this parliament who have a wealth of experience being doctors, GPs and pharmacists: the member MacArthur, Higgins, Kooyong, Mackellar, Dobell, and Robertson. I'm sure they catch up regularly and exchange notes as part of the medical caucus, but what a time for such an experienced bunch of citizens to be in this parliament, when we know we need to improve access to medicines and to our medical system. I thank them for all they bring to this place.

Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Bennelong for his kind words. I rise to speak today in response to this motion regarding the recent reduction to the cost of medications on the PBS. Healthy nations are prosperous nations. Australia's universal health system, Medicare, our world-class hospitals and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme are perhaps our greatest national assets. For this reason, I welcome the government's decision to reduce patient contributions to medicines under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. A 30 per cent reduction in costs represents very real savings for Australian households. We know that the out-of-pocket cost to patients of GP visits and medicines are an increasing burden to many of us in this time of significant cost-of-living pressures.

Accessible medicines are a pillar of our national health system. Medications have to be not just affordable but also accessible. Australia imports more than 90 per cent of its medications. In fact, we're dangerously dependent on imported medicines. Recent supply chain issues have impacted many of my constituents, putting them at risk of harm from side effects related to alternative preparations and also the long-term health obligations of uncontrolled disease. Mr Ian Picken of Balwyn told me:

When seeking to purchase a monthly update of my prescription which I have been taking for several years, my pharmacist advised there is currently no stock. It is now several weeks that I have been waiting for supplies to be available. My pharmacist has me on a priority list and has undertaken to call me once he has some stock. Hopefully next week.

Another Kooyong constituent, Daniel, is worried about being forced to change his medications. He said:

I have found out from my doctor that the company has stopped making my drug and no other company makes it as it is no longer profitable. That is the bottom line. So I have to come off them gradually and then nothing for at least a week before I can try a new drug.

He added—and he's right—you can't change your medication like you change your socks. Mr Alex Mazzolini of Hawthorn advised me:

On several occasions when I have been unable to get my diabetes medication I have gone on to half dose to make the supply I have last a little longer.

In the past few months alone we have seen shortages of multiple antibiotics in Australia, including paediatric preparations, diabetes medications and antidepressants. How many Australians are having their health compromised by a lack of access to the medications that they need? Other constituents have expressed frustration in relation to the prescribing and dispensing of medications in this country. They describe unnecessary, costly visits to their GP for repeat prescriptions, and the limits placed on supply at the pharmacy which mean both inconvenience and, often, additional cost.

The need for routine repeat scripts is an inconvenience; it's an avoidable cost to Medicare, an unnecessary demand on the GP sector and, more and more, it's an increased out-of-pocket cost to patients. The supply of prescription medications by pharmacies is regulated; multiple prescriptions are supplied only in certain circumstances. In 2018, the PBAC recommended allowing the dispensing of 143 commonly dispensed medications at two months worth at a time. Why are we still paying too much in dispensing fees? Our health system needs reform in order to adapt to changing demographics and evolving health pressures. We need system revision, with flexibility and agility. We need to avoid unnecessary repetition of both medical and pharmaceutical services, and we need to give patients greater agency over the management of their own health.

We also need a national strategy to ensure reliable supply of medications, including a review of our sovereign manufacturing capacity and how our government can support better support it. While our domestic market is small, we do have established supply chains and we have great proximity to the Pacific market. We could expand our manufacturing capacity, decrease our sovereign risk and support our Pacific partners by increasing local manufacture of pharmaceuticals.

I thank my constituents for allowing me to share their personal experiences, which are the experiences of many Australians. There is still much work to do for us to make medicines more equitably affordable and reliably accessible for all Australians.

Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As someone who grew up in a household where my parents ran their own medical practice, the importance of universal public health is really something that has been instilled in me from a very young age. I'm really excited to stand here today and speak about legislation that will see, for the first time since the creation of the PBS, patients paying less for medicines.

Unfortunately, we are in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis inherited from the previous government. Anything we can do to alleviate cost-of-living pressures on families is really important to my community and, indeed, to communities across Australia. Health is really important to my community, as I'm sure it is to the communities of all of my colleagues here today. In my electorate of Chisholm there's some really the exciting news around health. The Victorian Heart Hospital, which was funded by the Victorian Labor government and Monash University will open its doors shortly. It is the first and only cardiac hospital in Australia. And we recently turned the sod for Moderna in my electorate of Chisholm too; they will join Pfizer as just two of the pharmaceutical and medical technology companies to set up business in my local area. So the importance of health, medicine and an accessible, equitable and well-funded health system really matter to my community.

Shortly, we will also see the National Reconstruction Fund debated in this place. This is a really important policy that we took to the last election, and it was very well received my community. We have all experienced the global shortage of medicine due to disrupted supply chains and also due to the failure of investment in sovereign capability and domestic manufacturing capacity. These are the high-wage, high-skill jobs of the future. On our watch, we will see this kind of advanced manufacturing revived once again, providing the good and secure jobs that our communities rely on and, more than that, making the kinds of things, like medicines, that our communities need. I think everyone was really shocked at the extent to which we were unable to make things here in Australia, so I'm really pleased that's going to change under our government.

Labor governments, including the Albanese Labor government, have always invested in and defended public health in this country. Of course we were the first people to bring in universal health care in Australia, and had to reintroduce it after it was, unfortunately, abolished by the coalition. What we're doing with the copayment bill—which I'm excited to speak about, because it's already making a difference to hip pockets—is saving people money. Not only are we saving people money; we're removing the horrible choice that people have to make between whether they go to the pharmacy and pay for life-saving medications or they pay for their groceries or their rent or their petrol. This is a choice nobody in a country like Australia should ever be forced to make. We should be protecting our universal healthcare system and making sure it is equitable for everybody. Now, instead of paying what they used to for medications if they had one script that needed to be filled, people will be saving $150 a year. Those filling two scripts a month could save around $300 a year. There are 3.6 million Australians with current prescriptions over $30 who are already saving money.

It is devastating that people have been forced into situations where they are making choices around their health because they might not be able to afford to get access to medicine. Of course, we've also seen people not being able to afford to go and see a general practitioner to get a prescription in the first instance. In fact, over the last decade in my electorate alone—and I suspect the numbers are similar in other places around the country—the out-of-pocket costs that people experience going to a GP increased by a shocking 38 per cent. In that instance too we are seeing people making very difficult and very dangerous decisions about not seeing medical practitioners, because they simply can't afford it. That's not good enough; we're doing better. I'm really pleased that people are starting to save money. We are committed to Medicare. We are committed to equitable, genuine universal health, and I'm really pleased that the member for Robertson has put this motion to the House.

Russell Broadbent (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was intrigued by the former contribution, having regard to the fact that everybody's agreed on universal healthcare. Everybody wants the best for their community. And there's a very clear statement by the member that these families are under enormous pressure from cost-of-living expenses, exacerbated by the problems within health care in Australia.

Right around the country we're seeing ambulances ramping at every hospital, and it's getting worse and worse. It's not getting better. This is exacerbated by cuts to the telehealth and mental health rebates and by exhausted and overwhelmed GPs, doctors, nurses and allied health professionals. Our health and hospital systems are in freefall. In fact, there was one lady who was going for an allied healthcare appointment in Gippsland. She was in such pain she thought she'd call in to the hospital, on her way to the appointment, for some pain relief. They said, 'It's no good sitting here; we can't see you for two and a half hours,' and she was in such pain that she called into the hospital for help.

I've never known a time like this in my time as a representative or as a member of the community. No-one seems to care enough about what's happening in the system to ask questions. No-one's asking why—what's causing our nation's first-class health system to crumble in so many areas? There's a lot of blame being attributed to workforce shortages and staff being sick with COVID and other flu viruses, so why isn't the health minister putting pressure on state counterparts to drop the insidious and redundant COVID-19 mandates and reinstate our heroic frontline workers who remain unable to work due to the mandates because they are not vaccinated?

One of these workers is Lexie Tuckett—she doesn't mind me using her name. She's 22 years of age, and her story is heartbreaking. Lexie told me that it was always her dream to help others, and she was rightly very proud when she graduated, in December 2021, with a Bachelor of Paramedicine. Four weeks later, she started her induction with the New South Wales Ambulance service. Part of the pre-employment check related to vaccines, but she was not at all concerned. She was up to date with all vaccines and had a medical exemption for the COVID-19 vaccination approved by Medicare, with a signed letter from her doctor. On the second day of her induction, Lexie received an email from New South Wales Ambulance to advise that her exemption had not met the ATAGI guidelines and that her COVID-19 vaccination exemption could not be approved. To continue with New South Wales Ambulance, she'd have to have her first dose of COVID-19 vaccination in three days time and have the second dose three weeks after that.

While Lexie's parents sought urgent legal advice on her behalf, Lexie was stood down, effective immediately, and advised she would be placed on leave without pay until vaccinated. Lexie was able to give her service to the high-country Ski Patrol. Why is it that she could give her service to save a life—which she did, in the high country—working with the Ski Patrol but couldn't work as a paramedic in New South Wales? How could that be, and how many hundreds and hundreds of professional health workers are out there cleaning toilets and washing dishes, instead of doing what they should be doing: helping the people that they love?

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australians are doing it tough. After nine years of neglect from the former government, the cost of living is soaring, and many Australians are cutting back on essentials in order to make ends meet. As the member for Newcastle, I know that Novocastrians are feeling the pinch.

An ABC article this morning highlighted the story of a Newcastle local, Teresa Hetherington. I know Teresa well. She's a hard worker and immensely dedicated to the clients she sees in her job as a home carer. But Teresa says that the days at the end of her pay cycle are 'hair-raising'. She is reliant on her car to travel from client to client, and fuelling up has become so expensive that she often has to choose between putting $20 worth of petrol in the car and eating. Teresa loves her job and has more than two decades of experience in the home-care sector. But, in order to cope with rising costs, she's had to take a second job in a local clothes store. She says she 'simply can't function' without an additional source of income. These are incredibly tough times, and, unfortunately, Teresa's story is not unique.

For other families, the high cost of living means choosing between filling prescriptions for potentially life-saving medicines and providing for their families. The co-payment for general patients has doubled since 2000, and, according to ABS figures, more than 900,000 Australians delayed or did not get a script filled in 2019-20, due to cost. To provide optimum health care to all Australians, we've got to turn this around. As the member for Newcastle, I am determined to deliver better outcomes for our community's future and for every household.

The Albanese Labor government is putting in place a number of measures to help ease that pressure on household budgets. One way we have done this is by reducing the maximum amount that Australians pay for their Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme medicines. The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, or the PBS, as it's most commonly known, is a significant component of the Commonwealth's investment in our health system, with the government allocating $13.8 billion in the 2020-21 financial year to make medicines more affordable. The Labor government's changes, which came into effect on 1 January, mean that Australians are now paying up to 30 per cent less for their prescriptions. Our reduction to that co-payment means that the maximum Australians will pay for PBS medicines now is $30, down from $42.50. With this reduction of $12.50, 3.6 million Australians with current prescriptions over $30 will immediately save on medical scripts. People filling one script a month could save around $150 a year, while those filling two scripts a month could save around $300. In Newcastle, these changes will benefit 92,519 Novocastrians in filling almost 250,000 scripts each year. It's an estimated saving to Novocastrians of $3.5 million, and that is not to be sneezed at.

This is indeed the first time in its 75-year history that the maximum cost of general scripts under the PBS has fallen. I am so proud to be part of an Albanese Labor government that is taking direct action to help ease pressure on family budgets. We do not want to see patients having to choose between the health care they need and providing for their families. This change is just one way that we're helping to ease the burden on Australian families, particularly those with chronic illnesses. All Australians should have access to universal, prompt, and world-class medical care. That's Labor's mission, and it's our vision for Australia.

Debate adjourned.