CHEMIST Warehouse's plans to bring its free prescription offer from New Zealand to Australia is being stymied by "another fake narrative" from the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, the group's Chief Operating Officer, Mario Tascone, claims.
Continuing its push for changes to Pharmacy Ownership and Location regulations, Chemist Warehouse, hit out at rules preventing the group from offering discounted Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) listed medicines.
Tascone told News Corp that Chemist Warehouse could scrap the $6.50 concessional and $40.30 general patient PBS co-payment on a number of medicines, if legislation was amended, noting the discounter would accept the Government subsidy and dispensing fee, while not charging patients.
"We probably couldn't do it for everything, but we could do it for select drugs," he said.
A Guild spokesperson said that while the organisation supported to reduce the cost of medicines for Australians, it did not back Chemist Warehouse's free script plan.
"We do not support a zero-co-payment except where a concessional patient reaches the safety net after 60 scripts (soon to be reduced to 48 scripts)," the spokesperson said.
"We do not believe it improves our subsidised medicine system to have the Government-determined co-payment used as a lever of competition.
"The medicine payment systems in Australia and New Zealand have significant differences and are not directly comparable.
"As for Chemist Warehouse, it is a standard big corporate ploy to seek to destroy small competitors through 'loss leader' prices and then raise prices again once they dominate the market.
"We believe free scripts as a marketing ploy commoditises medicines, reduces quality use of medicines and encourages hoarding and wastage."
Tascone told Pharmacy Daily the Guild's response to the group's proposal was "so absurd it really doesn't deserve a response".
"Most people will see this response for what it is...just another fake narrative (one of many) put out by the Guild to try and discredit anyone whose views differ to them," he said.
Tascone declined to provide any information regarding what molecules would be dispensed without a co-payment.
However the Guild spokesperson warned that patients would need to "beware of the fine print" on any free prescription offer.
"We're about protecting the best subsidised medicines scheme in the world," the spokesperson said.
"To ensure it isn't gamed by spivs."
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