Better Access Australia is urging community and patient groups to sign a petition demanding the Albanese Government reverse its decision to indefinitely defer 44 medicines from being listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
On 22 October the Department of Health and Aged Care advised individual pharmaceutical companies that 44 of the 77 medicine applications due to be considered at the March 2025 meeting of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) would be indefinitely delayed, citing ‘workload and resourcing issues’. The PBAC had held a secret meeting to determine those medicines they would proceed with and those they would not.
Patients were not consulted, and still do not know which of the medicines they are awaiting access to have been indefinitely delayed. Does the list of medicines include cancer treatments, or treatments for chronic or rare diseases? The community simply does not know. .
In 2011 the then Labor Government deferred the PBS listing of seven medicines. The community and the Parliament took a stand against this egregious breach of the social compact the PBS represents as the cornerstone of medicine and cornerstone of public health access in Australia. Thereafter, bi-partisan support for listing all recommendations of the PBAC was secured, with both major parties going to the 2022 election promising to list PBS recommendations made by the PBAC.
The community needs to take that stand again. THis is the community's health system and we need access to our medicines now.
Full details and quotes from Better Access Australia in the attached press release.
Link TO THE PETITION: https://chng.it/dc9gRdKq6D
Key Facts:
Link TO THE PETITION: https://chng.it/dc9gRdKq6D
About us:
Better Access Australia is a not-for-profit that contributes to public policy debates through research, publications, public discussion and advocacy. We recognise that Australia’s health, disability and social services systems work best when all parties engage in good faith and everyone's contributions are recognised and valued. Our recent advocacy work has included funding for newborn screening, reduction in PBS co-pays, ending discrimination against opioid-dependent patients and better access to adult immunisation. We have called for faster listing times for medicin access since the Government's 2020 Novel Technologies inquiry. http://www.betteraccessaustralia.org.au
Contact details:
Zach Vella communications@betteraccessaustralia.org.au
Felicity McNeill fmcneill@betteraccessaustralia.org,au
