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Improving Access to Medicines – Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme – new and amended listings
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The Government has provisioned $40 billion in the forward estimates for over 5,000 life-saving and life-changing medicines products. Funding will grow over the forward estimates, including investment of an additional $331 million for new and amended listings on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) this Budget. Since October 2013, over 2,000 new or amended PBS items have been, or soon will be, listed at an overall cost of around $10.6 billion.
Medicines on the PBS save and protect lives. Increased spending on the PBS means that people can access the medicines they need at an affordable price – the Australian Government subsidy reduces people’s costs, on average, by 89 per cent. These medicines can be prohibitively expensive if not subsidised on the PBS.