As an MP and a pharmacist – in fact, the only pharmacist in the Federal Parliament – it’s unacceptable to me that a patient - any patient - should be forced to choose which of their scripts to fill, skip or delay simply because they cannot afford to pay.
Going without medication vital to their health.
Should I get the blood pressure tablets and not the cholesterol tablets? Or, can I get a higher strength tablet and use a pill cutter to stretch the prescription further?
I’ve had parents hand me a bundle of scripts after a GP visit to ask can their children share an antibiotic mixture?
And this has been happening all too often at pharmacy counters around Australia.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics more than a million Australians have gone without a prescribed medicine because they can't afford it. People delaying or avoiding medication due to cost, with women more likely to skip or delay prescriptions than men. People splitting doses. Some patients having to choose between eating and taking the medicines they need.
That’s why making medicines more affordable is a key part of the Albanese Government’s health agenda.
Introducing a raft of measures to make medicines cheaper and ease cost of living pressures since coming to government in 2022.
In January 2023, we made the largest cut to PBS medicines in its 75-year history, with the maximum cost of prescriptions dropping from $42.50 to $30, saving patients $936 million. Those savings are around $27 million each month.
In January 2025 we froze both PBS co-payments – for 1 year for general patients and for 5 years for concessional patients – saving patients $45 million.
In the latest initiative, from 1 January 2026, the government is making cheaper medicines even cheaper – PBS general prescriptions will cost Australians no more than $25 excluding applicable premiums. This will make 4 out of 5 PBS medicines cheaper by more than 20 per cent.
The last time PBS medicines cost no more than $25 was 2004 – nearly twenty years ago - when I was working in community pharmacy on the Central Coast of NSW.
This will save Australians more than $200 million each year.
A patient who previously paid $31.60 a month for their regular medicine will save $79.20 a year. Families filling four prescriptions a month will save as much as $316.80 a year. If any of those medicines are eligible for a 60-day prescription and are prescribed as such, the patient will save a further $150 a year.
We’ve also listed the first new oral contraceptives on the PBS in over 30 years, and medicines for menopause, endometriosis, and breast cancer. Other new PBS listings will significantly cut the cost of medicines for people with a range of cancers, arthritis and Cushing’s syndrome.
A new agreement with the National Pharmaceutical Services Association (NPSA) will keep vital medicines on pharmacy shelves and prices for patients down, even in the face of the rising costs of distributing medicines.
We are investing in 2 national pharmacy trials over 2 years to make it cheaper and easier for women to access oral contraceptives and treatment for uncomplicated urinary tract infections. And we continue to approve funding for new and amended listings on the PBS – giving people affordable access to high-cost medicines. Without the PBS subsidy, patients might pay tens of thousands per course of treatment a year.
It's a comprehensive approach to making medicines cheaper – a real way to help people with cost of living pressures.
As I say, if you need advice “Ask your pharmacist.”
