Medicare and PBS $400m deficit in rural and remote Australia

The National Rural Health Alliance (NRHA) has criticised the Prime Minister’s claims, made at a Pharmacy Guild dinner, that the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme gave access to all Australians regardless of wealth.

The NRHA commented that while “Medicare and the PBS are undoubtedly most virtuous and valuable programs… we must be aware of the impact of the tyranny of distance and scattered populations on such schemes and their supposed universality.

“Places too small to have a doctor – and many that are big enough to know better – cannot provide access to Medicare. No doctor: no Medicare. The ‘Medicare deficit’ is an estimate of the dollar value of services that people in more remote areas miss out on, calculated by comparing the Medicare benefits outlays per capita in rural and remote areas with those paid in urban and metropolitan areas. It is $400-$500 million a year.

Similarly, people who live in towns or settlements with no community pharmacy have no local access to subsidised medicines (section 100 normally notwithstanding). No pharmacy: no PBS.

It would be good to expand the rhetoric to acknowledge the fact that many people are not covered by the munificence of the MBS and PBS. Over 330,000 people live in RRMA 7 (2002) or 179,000 in areas classified as ‘Very Remote’ (in 2004).