Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today it gives me great pleasure to speak on this piece of legislation, the National Health Amendment (General Co-payment) Bill 2022. In my experience as an emergency doctor, medication affordability is an enormous issue that has been plaguing our health services both on the Central Coast and right across Australia for a significant period of time.

There are three words that describe this bill: equity, equality and access—three words that we must strive for not only as a government but as a community. This piece of legislation achieves just this. Millions of Australians, including thousands of people in my home electorate of Robertson, will benefit from reducing the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme co-payment from the current maximum of $42.50 per script to a maximum of $30 per script—a discount of $12.50 per script. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, in 2020-21, 314 million prescriptions were dispensed under the PBS and RPBS, and in total Australian consumers paid $3.2 billion towards PBS and RPBS prescriptions. This is not just a measure that will help ease the cost of living. This is not just a measure that will ensure that those on the Central Coast will have more money in their pocket after visiting the chemist. This measure will save lives. I will repeat that for everyone in the chamber and all those listening at home: this measure will save lives.

To outline the meaning of that, I now take you back to my first speech, which I gave to this 47th Parliament and where I described a particular shift I completed in the emergency department. On that day in the emergency department, people presented for myriad reasons, but one major reason they presented to the emergency department was medication access and affordability. People were presenting to the emergency department because they were unable to afford any of their prescription medications. We are talking about patients with multiple chronic illnesses, with multiple co-morbidities, without any pharmacological intervention, meaning that, due to cost and their ability to meet such costs, they are not taking any of their medication. People have to choose between putting food on the table and filling their scripts. The result is exacerbation of pre-existing illness and people becoming incredibly ill from conditions that can be managed with medication.

People were also found to be rationing medications, meaning people were taking their vital therapeutics for illnesses such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia or epilepsy every second or every third day. In these scenarios, these honourable but forced decisions to put the wellbeing of their family and loved ones above their own can have devastating consequences. Manageable conditions like I mentioned earlier—hypertension, epilepsy, hypercholesterolaemia, diabetes mellitus—spiral rapidly out of control, leading to hospital admissions, intensive care or, quite shockingly but real, death.

These are not just scenarios; these are human beings. These are people. These are people's mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, brothers, sisters, children, friends, going without and risking their lives. Why? It's because they cannot afford their medications. For those with diabetes, this potentially means uncontrolled hyperglycaemia, numerous microvascular and macrovascular complications or prolonged uncontrolled blood sugar, leading to conditions like blindness or kidney failure. For those with hypertension, high blood pressure or hypercholesterolaemia—high cholesterol—this means a potential cerebrovascular accident, or stroke, or this means an acute myocardial infarction, or a heart attack.

Chronic health conditions not controlled by the consistent medication that they require can rapidly deteriorate into acute presentations requiring immediate intervention, hospitalisation or even worse. This is not something that should be happening in this country. We pride ourselves on being able to care for our most vulnerable, to care for our elderly, to care for our community. Our most vulnerable do not deserve to be punished financially for their vulnerability. They deserve to be supported. Therapeutics are a powerful and essential support. Affordable access to medications is vital for patient health outcomes, vital in avoiding progression of serious illness and vital for sustaining life in so many throughout our community.

Increasing accessibility and affordability of medications has direct benefits not only for the individual, but also by reducing the pressures and the burden on the greater health system. Let us take the example of a patient, a single parent with high blood pressure and high cholesterol. It's a not uncommon scenario. They can afford to either feed their children or travel to the chemist to pay for their medications. They choose their children. Their blood pressure, their hypertension, their hypercholesterolemia—high cholesterol—skyrockets, and they begin to experience chest pain. They call an ambulance. The ambulance arrives, and on scene ECG confirms the patient is having a heart attack. Emergency childcare is organised—another added financial burden for an already struggling family—and the patient is rapidly transported to hospital. A myriad of tests are run in emergency, each with a cost to the health system but a cost that is required to save the patient's life. The patient is transferred to the intensive care unit when there's a bed available. Every hour of waiting is also costing the family in childcare and the health system in resources. They require a surgical procedure to relieve the pressure on their heart and restore adequate blood flow. After a few days in intensive care, the patient stabilises and is transferred to the ward for monitoring.

Upon discharge home, the patient needs more medications as a result; more follow-up appointments with their GP; specialist services with a cardiologist; rehabilitation for deconditioning; and more support at home. These are all additional financial and resource burdens to both the family and the health system right across the country. After all this has happened, the family is now even less likely to be able to afford their medications that they so desperately need.

Put simply, if an individual can afford access to their medications, this means more stable health for that individual, both physical and mental health. Their condition is well-managed and far less likely to acutely deteriorate or exacerbate. This means that they're less likely to require an ambulance. They're less likely to require a bed, tests and resources in the emergency department. They're less likely to take up a scarce bed in the emergency department, the intensive care unit or the hospital ward. They're less likely to need to engage in rehabilitation services. They're less likely to require increased general practitioner appointments and specialist services.

The benefits of this legislation extend well beyond the individual. As I've said before, our overflowing emergency departments, our overflowing hospital wards, our overwhelmed general practitioners, our inundated ambulance services and our national economy all stand to benefit because of this legislation. This piece of legislation is proactive, it is practical and it is sensible, something that has been missing from healthcare legislation for the last decade.

The Albanese Labor government, our government, has committed to reducing the maximum amount Australians pay for their Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme medicines. That was a commitment we made at the last election, and now we are starting the process to deliver on that commitment. Our communities and vulnerable Australians deserve to be supported. They do not deserve to be punished. Financial barriers should not be preventing the people in my electorate on the Central Coast or people right across Australia from complying with their therapeutic regiment. This financial barrier represents a heavy burden for so many people. One of the reasons that I ran in the 2022 federal election was to ensure that all Australians—in particular, those in the electorate of Robertson—have access to universal and world-class medical care. Our goal is equity, equality, access. The introduction of this bill and the associated changes to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme represent this government's, our government's, commitment and investment into Medicare, they represent our investment into health services and they represent our investment into the wellbeing of the Australian people.

The reduction to the PBS general co-payment of $12.50 means that the maximum Australians, including those in my electorate of Robertson, will pay for PBS medicines drops from $42.50 down to $30. This is a 29 per cent saving. This investment will provide savings to general patients of around $190 million each year. This investment will assist in easing pressures on our health services, this will assist in easing pressures on our hospitals, this investment will assist in easing pressures on the economy and this investment will save lives.

What we've been hearing from the opposition since we came into government in May is: how are we going to help with the cost of living for the Australian people? Seemingly that's been the question of choice at question time. But I don't think the opposition's been listening too well, as every moment of our governance has put the Australian people first. This legislation is simply another measure that we are taking to assist Australians and, in fact, rectify what years of neglect by Liberal Party have had on our cost-of-living pressures. I want you all to hear this now: the Albanese Labor government is putting people first. Not only is this an investment into medication affordability and the health of people across the nation; this is providing cost-of-living relief for millions of Australian families.

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