“The full fee raises some concern,” she said.
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“Patients from vulnerable populations should not be disadvantaged ... We should not discriminate women’s access to emergency contraception based on their location,health status or financial status. That’s why we’re calling for emergency contraception to be placed on the PBS.”
Lei also called for more work to promote intrauterine devices to health professionals and consumers given lagging rates of use in Australia.
Hormonal IUDs – small devices inserted into the uterus to prevent pregnancy – are subsidised by the PBS,costing about $30,or $7.30 with a healthcare card. However,copper IUDs,which some women prefer because they do not release hormones,typically cost between $80 and $90.
Professor Danielle Mazza,an adviser on women’s health with the Royal Australian College of GPs,said IUDs reduced levels of unwanted pregnancy but there was not enough GP training or compensation to encourage their take-up.
“GPs are always telling us the rebate is too low to reflect the cost of a practice to deliver this service,” she said.
“They are essential to women’s reproductive health.”
Professor Danielle Mazza,an adviser on women’s health with the Royal Australian College of GPs
She also called for a regulatory solution that gave Australians access to contraceptive options they needed at low or no cost. “They are essential to women’s reproductive health,” she said.
Australian Medical Association vice-president Dr Danielle McMullen agreed but said the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee,which recommends items for the PBS,needed to receive applications from pharmaceutical companies before their products could be listed.
“[The advisory committee] can’t compel manufacturers to request listing,which has been a bit of a challenge,but we welcome more contraceptive medications on the PBS,” she said.
Asked by Greens senator Larissa Waters why important contraceptives were not subsidised,federal Health Department deputy secretary Tania Rishniw told the inquiry some companies chose not to apply to the committee.
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“Without speculating ... in some cases,pharmaceutical companies choose not to because they want to charge a different amount,they want to choose to set their own prices. In some cases,it might be because they don’t think the market is big enough. But the reasons will vary,” she said.
The Pharmacy Guild’s Natalie Willis suggested one potential barrier was that pharmaceutical companies applying for a listing had to prove their products were more cost-effective and effective than those that had been on the market for decades. “I think it’s a difficult process to navigate,” she said.