Australia's PBS - A short story, with picture

I picked up my monthly immune therapy injectable medication from the pharmacy today. 

Take a look at the pricing label. Full cost: $1604.77. Cost to me on the PBS (Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, for non-Aussie readers, which heavily subsidises medications for all Australian citizens and residents): $31.60.

This is a medication that has had a strongly positive effect on my health overall, and will probably act to extend my "healthspan" (years I remain fully functional). At $1604 a month, I could not afford it, and I just wouldn't get it. I wouldn't die without it, this is not an insulin situation, but it would impede my quality of life, especially as I age and my autoimmune issues become more prominent.

Protect Medicare and the PBS, folks. Think about how affordable that top number would be for the vast majority of people (certainly for those without private insurance). Think about how it is in fully privatised healthcare systems, where whether you get treated or get medication largely depends on how good your expensive, tied-to-employment, insurance is, and how willing and able you are to fight them when they deny coverage. We don't want to go down that dark path here.

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