SECURING the passage of legislation cutting the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) general co-payment to $30 will be a moment of pride for pharmacist-turned-MP, Emma McBride.
Addressing the House of Representatives yesterday, the Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, and Rural and Regional Health said she has long advocated for reducing out-of-pocket expenses for patients accessing PBS medicines, and urged politicians across the Parliament to support the National Health Amendment (General co-payment) Bill 2022.
"As a pharmacist I am very proud to be able to support this legislation," she said.
"My whole working life I have wanted to make sure that people who most need medication can afford it.
"I remember standing in an outpatient clinic in a mental health unit and a patient coming up to me and saying, 'I can't afford this medication. Which one can I skip or which one can I delay?' This is after someone had had a really long inpatient stay.
"The whole multidisciplinary care had meant that they were able to recover and have a life ahead of them with some hope and optimism.
"To be standing in this parliament today and supporting this legislation means so much to me personally and as a local MP.
"I know it will give hope to people who are struggling, to people who need it most, to people who struggle to get out of bed, to people who struggle to put a roof over their head, to people who are sleeping rough and to the people we have discharged to caravans, caves and no fixed abode.
"This has to change.
"In a country like Australia we can't have the most vulnerable people in our communities - those living with chronic enduring mental ill health - struggling to be able to afford the essential medicine they need to help them get well and stay well.
"We cannot continue to discharge them back to the circumstances that made them sick.
"We must support this legislation so that it can get through in the spring sittings so that next year Australians will be able to afford medicines."
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 28 Sep 22
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