Election pledge part of Albanese’s focus on cheaper medicines as a cost-of-living measure that will also help reduce inflationFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesSee all our Australian election 2025 coverageGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA re-elected Labor government would reduce the price of PBS-listed medicines to no more than $25 a script, in a major new election pledge to be included in next week’s budget that builds on Anthony Albanese’s focus on cheaper medicines as a cost-of-living measure.With the formal election campaign to start within weeks, where Labor will focus strongly on health as a key issue, Albanese will on Thursday deliver a major speech promising that four out of five medications on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme would become cheaper under the plan which would cost the government $689m.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading…Election pledge part of Albanese’s focus on cheaper medicines as a cost-of-living measure that will also help reduce inflationFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesSee all our Australian election 2025 coverageGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA re-elected Labor government would reduce the price of PBS-listed medicines to no more than $25 a script, in a major new election pledge to be included in next week’s budget that builds on Anthony Albanese’s focus on cheaper medicines as a cost-of-living measure.With the formal election campaign to start within weeks, where Labor will focus strongly on health as a key issue, Albanese will on Thursday deliver a major speech promising that four out of five medications on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme would become cheaper under the plan which would cost the government $689m.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading…
A re-elected Labor government would reduce the price of PBS-listed medicines to no more than $25 a script, in a major new election pledge to be included in next week’s budget that builds on Anthony Albanese’s focus on cheaper medicines as a cost-of-living measure.
With the formal election campaign to start within weeks, where Labor will focus strongly on health as a key issue, Albanese will on Thursday deliver a major speech promising that four out of five medications on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme would become cheaper under the plan which would cost the government $689m.
The announcement was instantly matched by the Coalition, as the opposition pledged to make the same price reduction for key medicines, echoing Peter Dutton’s recent matching of Labor’s $8.5bn bulk billing incentive.
Labor’s investment will be contained in next week’s budget, reducing the price of PBS-listed drugs by a further 20%, after an earlier round of price reductions to medicines in 2023.
“Cheaper medicines is another way we are helping with the cost of living, while putting downward pressure on inflation – our number one focus,” Albanese said before the formal announcement.
Government sources said they were pursuing further drug price reductions because it was a cost-of-living measure that would also help reduce inflation by cutting the amount of money people had to spend to access medication.
It was also a cost-of-living measure that would benefit large swathes of the general population. Other measures often cited by the government as cost-of-living relief – such as free Tafe, cheaper childcare or reducing university debts – benefited more specific subsections of the population who access those services, or those with concession cards.
Pensioners and concession cardholders will continue to have their medicine costs frozen at $7.70 until 2030. Labor in 2023 had already cut the maximum price of a PBS script from $42.50 to $30. Thursday’s announcement cuts the maximum price by a further $5.
It will be a major policy detailed in next Tuesday’s federal budget, which is also expected to contain a fresh round of energy bill rebates for households. It comes weeks after Labor announced $8.5bn in incentive payments for GPs to bulk bill patients, a pledge quickly matched by the Coalition.
“The last time Australians paid no more than $25 for a PBS medicine was over 20 years ago. Cheaper medicines are good for the hip pocket and good for your health,” the health minister, Mark Butler, said.
The government gave examples of someone using the menopause medication Estrogel saving nearly $80 a year on a standard prescription under the change, a person with ADHD on Ritalin LA saving nearly $86 a year, and a person with diabetes taking Jardiance saving up to $86 per year.
When combined with other recent Labor health changes, such as 60-day scripts, the government said people could save up to $236 a year. Labor estimates Australian patients would save a combined $786m over the next four years under the new $25 co-payment.
The shadow health minister, Anne Ruston, on Wednesday night said the Coalition would match Labor’s idea if Dutton won the coming election.
“It has never been more important to ensure Australians have affordable access to essential medicines and treatments. Australians relying on prescription medications have been suffering through Labor’s cost-of-living crisis for three years,” she said in a statement.
“The Coalition has always supported Australians having affordable access to medicines, in line with our proud record of supporting a strong Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) in Australia.”
Pointing to other previous major health policies such as the prior round of cheaper medicines, freezing the cost of PBS medicines and the 60-day dispensing, Albanese touted Labor’s credentials on health.
“With cheaper medicines, more free GP visits and a stronger Medicare, we say to Australians: we’ve got your back,” he said.
Labor has strongly criticised Dutton, over his record as health minister under the former Coalition government, where he briefly proposed a $7 co-payment for GP visits. The Coalition is campaigning with a pledge of “fixing Labor’s healthcare crisis and bulk-billing crisis”, claiming bulk-billing rates were higher during their time in office – figures Butler has long disputed.
“When Peter Dutton was health minister, he tried to make medicines cost more, not less,” Butler said. “Peter Dutton tried to jack up the cost of medicines by up to $5 a script and put free medicines for sick pensioners even further out of reach.”
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