PBS copayments and safety nets - A commentary on Sweeny and Doran and Robertson

Abstract

IN ANY DISCUSSION of key pharmaceutical policy issues, Australia?s National Medicines Policy (NMP) is an important touchstone of which Australians can be justly proud. Those familiar with the stalled evolution of the Canadian National Pharmaceuticals Strategy and the uneven provincial patchwork of pharmaceutical coverage in Canada for example, may wonder why it is that a country with longstanding universal health care has neither universal coverage of medicines nor a cohesive national policy framework like Australia?s NMP. One of the fundamental objectives of the NMP is to deliver ?timely access to the medicines that Australians need, at a cost individuals and the community can afford?. It also says that ?cost should not constitute a substantial barrier to people?s access to medicines they need? and that while ?. . . the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) facilitates access to certain prescribed medicines by subsidising costs . . . (S)uch subsidies are not costless, and the community as a whole must bear them?. Importantly it also says that ?. . . access to medicines should support the rational use of those medicines?.