Posted by Michael Wonder on 21 Apr 2017
Patients will be pushed to use ‘generic drugs’ as medicine prices fall in the upcoming federal budget
21 April 2017 - Patients and taxpayers will pay less for hundreds of medicines as a result of the May budget as the Federal Government wrings $1.8 billion in savings from big drug companies.
However, many people will be pushed to switch to cheaper generic versions of their medicines under reforms to save the taxpayer money.
And the price of X-rays and scans could rise with the government poised to abandon an election pledge to index the Medicare rebates for these services.
Under a five year deal with the medicines industry the price of some contraceptive pills, pain medication Lyrica, the blood thinner Warfarin and epipens to treat anaphylaxis will drop, pensioners will still pay only $6.30 for these medicines.
