Show us the evidence
Nicola Roxon
posted Thursday, 19 August 2010
Federal Labor has called on the Opposition to reveal immediately how they plan to cut $1.2 billion from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
The Coalition are making this up as they go along.
When Mr Hockey was asked about how the Liberals plan to make these savings, his response was:
HOST: So where is your $1.2bn in savings coming from?
HOCKEY: I’m about to explain that. Ah, what we’ve said is that there has been a massive underestimation by Finance of the savings that have come about because of the changes to generic medicines. Therefore, without changing the PBS, at all, there will be additional funds available in the PBS.
(Sky News, 19/8/2010)
But when Mr Abbott was asked the same question, his response was that a Coalition Government would make further price cuts to PBS drugs:
ABBOTT: Well, the great thing about the PBS is the PBS is very good at getting new and innovate drugs into the market at a price that patients can afford. That’s the great thing about our PBS. But as I said, we think that we can get some savings and we think we can get those savings by negotiating better prices with the drugs companies. This will not in any way damage consumers, in fact, it will certainly help taxpayers.
(Doorstop, 19/8/2010)
The truth is the Coalition are desperate to make their numbers add up, and don’t have a clue about how they will deliver $1.2 billion in savings from the PBS.
In contrast, attached to this press release are the Federal Labor Government’s detailed agreements with Medicines Australia and the Pharmacy Guild.
These agreements detail how the Federal Labor Government, in collaboration with industry, will achieve greater value for taxpayer investment without raising the price of medicines for Australians.
The Federal Labor Government has already delivered better value for money for taxpayers from the PBS. We have achieved more efficient reforms without increasing costs.
In the 2010-11 Budget, Federal Labor delivered $2.5 billion over five years in savings on the PBS - $1.5 billion from the PBS and the medicines industry and $1 billion from pharmacies.
These were achieved through working collaboratively with both the medicines industry and with community pharmacies and without increasing costs for Australians.
There is only one way the Coalition will be able to deliver further savings without having spoken with the industry first, and that is by increasing the prices all Australians pay for prescription drugs.
Don’t risk your family and your future with Tony Abbott.
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Tags: Abbott, Budget, Coalition, Economy