Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme in Australia

Running head: PHARMACEUTICAL BENEFIT SCHEME IN AUSTRALIA
Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme in Australia
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1PHARMACEUTICAL BENEFIT SCHEME IN AUSTRALIA
Executive Summary
The following report sheds light on the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme of Australia and its
features in developing the health care sector of the country. In Australia, the rate of medicine
consumption is increasing day by day and this trend is followed not only in Australia, but
various countries of the world is now facing this issue from a last few years. As a
consequence of this issue, the expenditure on pharmaceuticals are also increasing. The PBS
scheme is providing support to the community people in gaining access to a wide range of
medicines in a subsidized rate. In each year, the expenditure of this PBS scheme is
enhancing due to the high medicine consumption rate of Australian. So a few
recommendation to address this issue is also recommended in this report.

2PHARMACEUTICAL BENEFIT SCHEME IN AUSTRALIA
Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS)................................................................................................3
Health Expenditure of the Australian Government................................................................................4
Types of Medicines Consumed..............................................................................................................6
Funds for PBS scheme...........................................................................................................................6
Recommendation to Improve the PBS...................................................................................................8
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................9

3PHARMACEUTICAL BENEFIT SCHEME IN AUSTRALIA
Introduction
In Australia, the rate of medicine consumption is increasing day by day and this trend
is followed not only in Australia, but various countries of the world is now facing this issue
from a last few years. As a consequence of this issue, the expenditure on pharmaceuticals are
increasing too. In Australia, the consumption of both drugs that is legal and illegal drugs has
enhanced in last two years (Malik et al., 2018). From the report of the Australian Government
it is noted that, the use of prescribed drugs and non-prescribed drugs are enhancing the
burden of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). This scheme is providing support to
the community people in gaining access to a wide range of medicines in a subsidized rates
since 1950. Along with the residents of Australia, this scheme also provides this facility to
certain foreign visitors as well by using the Reciprocal Health Care Agreement. The PBS is
mainly aiming to provide medicines to those who are living in isolated areas of the country
(Laba et al., 2015). In each year, the expenditure of this PBS scheme is enhancing due to the
high medicine consumption rate of Australian (Knott et al., 2015). In this report, the PBS
scheme, expenditure of Australian people on medicine, the reason of this increasing
expenditure of the country are discussed. In addition to this, a few problems related to the
consumption of prescribed and non-prescribed medicines is also highlighted.
Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS)
The PBS scheme is one of the defining features of the Australian health care system.
By using a medical card the residents of the Australia can access the advantages of subsidized
medicines. The patients or the consumers pay only a set of price for availing this services.
The amount is approximately, $36.90 for the general patients and $6.00 for the patients who
have concession cards. In this scheme, most of the medicines are given through the
community dispensaries and only a few medicines are distributed through the hospitals of the