Posted by Michael Wonder on 11 Apr 2017
Federal budget 2017: budget razor gang to consider medicine scheme shake-up
11 April 2017 - The Turnbull government's budget razor gang is set to consider changes to the $10 billion Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme designed to bring down the price of medicines and kill off a potentially damaging fight with pharmacists.
Health Minister Greg Hunt is close to finalising a new strategic agreement with pharmaceutical industry body Medicines Australia that will underpin the changes to go before the expenditure review committee within days, Fairfax Media can reveal.
Well-placed sources in the medicines sector say that under the agreement the industry will bring down the cost of some drugs in exchange for price certainty and stability. The agreement will fill the void left after negotiations on an earlier agreement ended in acrimony in 2015.
