Australian PBS deferrals risk creating two-tier health system, drugmakers argue

Federal Cabinet’s decision to defer the listing of new medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme threatens to take Australia into a two-tier health system, where only the wealth can afford the most effective and convenient treatments, pharma trade group Medicines Australia chief executive Brendan Shaw told a Senate Committee hearing today. Dr Shaw was giving evidence to the Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee Inquiry into the government’s administration of the PBS (The Pharma Letters passim).

Dr Shaw said five months after Cabinet’s announcement to defer the listing of some medicines that had been recommended by the government’s own expert advisory committee, some patients were still unable to afford those treatments.

“For patients this has meant five months without medicines that would materially improve their lives,” Dr Shaw told the Inquiry, adding: “Patients suffering from schizophrenia, excessive sweating and chronic pain are all missing out. As more medicines come up for listing, more patients are now anxious they too will miss out in the future.”