Pharmacies will be paid an extra $4.80 by the government every time they give out a 60-day medicine script, in a major concession from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that will stave off a pharmacy campaign against him at the next election.
Most of this money will come from boosting the fees chemists are paid when they give out 60-day scripts. The new agreement will see pharmacies receive double the handling fee for 60-day scripts – soon to be valued at $4.79 – which goes part-way to recover their losses and will cost the government $2.1 billion over the five-year deal.It comes on top of the $22.5 billion the government is due to give pharmacies to dispense medicines.
This measure will reduce medicine costs for most people but involves stripping Chemist Warehouse of its ability to offer their customers a $1 discount on medicines –The rest of the $3 billion includes $197 million for changes to dose administration aids, $103 million for new pharmacy programs and $60 million in implementation costs.