The Albanese Government is set to introduce legislation to Parliament this week to reduce the cost of medicines, with changes taking effect from 1 January 2026.<\/p>\n
From 1 January 2026, Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) prescription medicines will become more affordable for 20 million non-concession card holders \u2013 great news, especially for those managing chronic health conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe said we would make cheaper medicines even cheaper \u2013 that is exactly what we are doing,\u201d says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe size of your bank balance shouldn\u2019t determine the quality of your healthcare.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy Government will continue to deliver cost-of-living relief for all Australians.\u201d<\/p>\n
Affordable medicines \u2013 a top priority<\/p>\n
The move, which will see prescription medicines on the PBS cost no more than $25 \u2013 down from $31.60 \u2013 from 1 January next year has been welcomed by the Queensland Pharmacy Guild.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day, community pharmacists have conversations with patients about the tough choices they are forced to make, between filling scripts and other essentials such as rent, groceries and petrol,\u201d says Chris Owen, President of The Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Queensland.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese changes will benefit millions of Australians, who will save up to $6.60 on each prescription.\u201d<\/p>\n
Professor Trent Twomey, National President of The Pharmacy Guild of Australia, congratulates the Government for making \u201caffordable medicine a top priority\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is great news for 20 million Australians without a concession card who will save a combined $689 million in the next four years,\u201d says Professor Twomey.<\/p>\n
The move by the Albanese Government follows calls from a coalition of more than 20 health and community organisations, including the Pharmacy Guild, Patients Australia, Asthma Australia, Family Planning Alliance Australia and QENDO, urging the Government to act to make medicine affordable.<\/p>\n
Pensioners and concession cardholders<\/p>\n
The Albanese Government confirms that pensioners and concession cardholders will continue to benefit from the freeze to the cost of their PBS medicines, with the cost frozen at its current level of $7.70 until 2030.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor general patients medicines haven\u2019t been this cheap since 2004,\u201d says Minister Mark Butler, Minister for Health and Ageing.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor pension and concession card holders we\u2019ve frozen your medicine prices at a maximum price of $7.70 until the end of the decade.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Albanese Government is set to introduce legislation to Parliament this week to reduce the cost of medicines,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[97,243],"class_list":{"0":"post-44169","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-medication"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}