Medicines are important for many people to help them stay healthy. The government’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) makes sure people pay no more than $42.50 per script for many medicines. There are also other ways to bring costs down such as:
- other government support programs
- using generic medicines and
- checking if you still need all the medicines you are taking.
A concession card can help
PBS medicines are available to everyone with a Medicare card, and some other people living in Australia. Medicine costs may be even lower if a person has a:
- Pensioner Concession Card
- Commonwealth Seniors Health Card
- Health Care Card or
- Veteran Card.
Some veterans and their dependents can access the Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (RPBS). There are more medicines under this scheme than on the PBS.
The Closing the Gap PBS Co-payment Program further reduces the cost of PBS medicines for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with a chronic disease (or at risk of a chronic disease).
Check your Safety Net
The PBS Safety Net can also help get the cost of medicines down. It is for people who use a lot of PBS or RPBS medicines.
If your PBS/RPBS co-payments get to a certain amount in a single year (January to December) then you have reached what is called the Safety Net threshold. Once you reach the Safety Net threshold, PBS medicines cost even less or are free for the rest of that year.
You must keep a record of how much you have spent on PBS medicines that year. If you use the same pharmacy, ask them to record your spending on their system. If you go to more than one pharmacy, get a prescription record form. This will help you keep track of how much you spend. You can get these forms at any pharmacy.
Your pharmacist will give you a Safety Net Card when you reach the threshold. This allows you to get free or cheaper medicines for the rest of the calendar year. You can add co-payments made for your family’s medicines together into one Safety Net total. You can also use one prescription record form for the whole family.
Talk with your health professional
Talk with your doctor or pharmacist. They can help you lower the cost of your medicines.
You may be able to use a different brand of a medicine. Active ingredients are what make a medicine work. There are lots of medicines with the same active ingredient, but with different brand names. This is true for prescription and non-prescription medicines.
The PBS also covers some over-the-counter medicines. Ask your doctor. They will tell you if you can get a prescription for any of the over-the counter medicines you take.
If you need a higher-than-normal amount of a medicine, your doctor may give you an authority script. This will allow you to pay the same amount as someone on the standard dose.
If you've been taking a lot of medicines for some time, you might no longer need all of them. Your doctor can check your medicines are still helpful or arrange a pharmacist to do a home medicines review.
NPS MedicineWise has more information on how to reduce the cost of your medicines.