Plibersek rebuts Guild push
August 26, 2013
Federal health minister Tanya
Plibersek has gone on the offensive
against the national campaign for
compensation over accelerated
PBS price disclosure, writing to ALP
candidates across Australia with key
points to use when rebutting claims
made by the pharmacy sector.
The letter directly targets the
in-pharmacy posters and petitions
which have been circulated, with
the strong support of the Guild,
PSA and many other industry
stakeholders.
According to a story in Sat’s
Financial Review, Plibersek’s
letter downplays the possibility of
increased dispensing fees, saying
that any compensation payment
would “substantially reduce the
benefit of price reductions that the
government has negotiated with
drug manufacturers”.
This would “result in lost benefits
to patients and taxpayers,”
Plibersek’s letter adds.
She suggests that the Labor
candidates reiterate that like
patients, the government values
community pharmacy.
“There is no reason, however, for
patients and taxpayers to pay the
old inflated prices for medicines
which have dropped in price,” the
health minister added.
The “Your Pharmacy Under
Threat” campaign is also being
strongly opposed by the Consumers
Health Forum, CHOICE and ACOSS
which have launched their own
“Stand Up For Cheaper Medicines”
a campaign website opposing the
Guild push (PD 20 Aug).
The Guild says the latest changes,
made without consultation, mean
that PBS reforms will hit the bottom
line of community pharmacies
across the country by $90,000 in
2014/15, and may force up to 150
rural pharmacies to close.
MEA NWHILE the AMA has
attacked the Guild’s request
for a letter of commitment to
community pharmacy from PM
Kevin Rudd (PD Fri), with a News
Limited story by Sue Dunlevy
quoting AMA president Steve
Hambleton describing the letter as
a “betrayal of voters”.
Dunlevy’s article claims the Guild
is “trying to strongarm the major
parties to prop up chemist profits
at the expense of consumers,” by
seeking commitments to location
and ownership rules.
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