Guest mackemsok Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Hi to all my fellow PIO, Can anyone tell me what the cost of presription medication is in Oz? I get free prescriptions here as my medication is for life - what do i do about this when i go? All help is appreciated Sharon X Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petals Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 $29.00 - $32.00 is what I pay for mine. If a person has a health care card then they are cheaper and I think its about $5.00. My daughter has a health care card at the moment. She is an insulin dependent diabetic and she has a diabetic card so gets her pens and strips etc cheap from Diabetes Australia at a cheap price. If people elect to take the generic brand then the prescription is considerably less. I spend $129.00 a month on prescriptions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 fogetmenot said it all really ,,, no freebies here ,the healthcare card is great ,i had one for a few months after arrival and it saves you heaps on lots of different things including prescriptions,you have to have a joint income of less than $ 41,250 to qualify hope this helps Cal x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 It does actually depend on the medication but a single script for a medication on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme is max $32 (give or take a few cents). However, if you require a drug which is not on the PBS then you pay market price - it is possible that the exact drug you are being prescribed in UK is either not available here or it may not be on the PBS in which case your doctor would be negotiating a different medication with you - however if it is one that you absolutely must have and if it isnt on the PBS then you could be paying hundreds of dollars (chances are though that if it is a standard med then it WILL be on the PBS). If you are in the unhappy situation of requiring something that is not subsidised by the govt then your private medical insurance would kick in to cover some of the gap. Also, there is a safety net of about $1200 a year so that if you spend this much on PBS medicines in a year, you can apply to get your meds at concession rates once you go over that limit PBS Safety Net - Medicare Australia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petals Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Because my daughter is a diabetic it is necessary for her to have a drug which is not available to all Australians on the PBS and she has a special prescription for it, her specialist rings Canberra and gets authority to prescribe it and it still costs her $5.00 so it may be that the drug you are taking and the reasons you are taking are unique and you would get the drug. Have a look at this web site and you can check on the medications from there. Drugs in Australia do not always have the same name as drugs in the UK so its necessary for you to find out what the chemical name is to find the drug, i. e Aropax here is Seroxat in UK. Your prescriptions - Medicare Australia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Hmm I think the dilemma would be that if someone was in need of a health care card because of a disability/illness before they came then their visa status could possibly be in jeopardy because of the potential cost to the Aus tax payer - something to watch out for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 A weeks supply of antibiotics for my son cost almost $17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Baggo's Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 My daughter was getting frequent ear infections. antibiotics to treat were $42 for one treatment!!! As she was getting infections every few weeks we decided to have her ear operated on - yep we had to contribute to towards that too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mandy1 Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Hi My oh had really bad sinusitis and required antibiotics at $30 and a nasal spray which was $60! Mandy x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mandy1 Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Hi again Has anyone noticed just how expensive the cold remedies are out here. In the local supermarket they had cold tablets at $14.00 think I'll stick to normal paracetomol and a bottle of olbas ! Mandy x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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