Community pharmacists are the frontline of Australian healthcare. With the price of the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme co-payment for prescription medicines going up each year, they were reporting that an increasing number of patients were struggling to afford vital medication.
At the end of 2021, with an election due in the following year, the community pharmacists’ representative body, the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, resolved to run a campaign to encourage politicians to lower the cost of the PBS co-payment, making medicines more affordable for all Australians.
At the end of 2021, with an election due in the following year, the community pharmacists’ representative body, the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, resolved to run a campaign to encourage politicians to lower the cost of the PBS co-payment, making medicines more affordable for all Australians.
In November 2021, during the planning for this campaign, Agenda C foresaw that Covid concerns were unlikely to dominate the 2022 election thanks to vaccinations. We realised that international supply chain pressures, a skills shortage due to suppressed migration, the inflationary effect of government stimulus measures and the tapering of pandemic support would lead to a rising cost of living. We shaped messages for testing and polling questions accordingly. Throughout the campaign, we undertook qualitative and quantitative polling to measure salience and impact through our independent polling partner Insightfully.
As the campaign progressed, our insight was validated. Quantitative tracking polling showed cost of living overtaking Covid and even health as a top election issue. With health and cost of living the two concerns which people in marginal electorates named unprompted as their top issues, we knew that our media outreach and creative was right in the sweet spot.
As our campaign progressed, we realised that group struggling most with the rising cost of medicines was women in households earning under $100,000, who were not eligible for a concession card. Pharmacists were telling us stories about women who would have to chose which child to buy medicine for, or go without themselves. Our research showed that these women weren’t alone – more and more women were reporting finding themselves in this situation. We told their stories and the stories of many others struggling to afford essential medicines. Our polling showed that, by the end of the campaign, we had reached almost 50% of population and campaign recall was high.
On 30 April 2022, nationwide news announced that the governing Liberal National Party would lower the PBS co-payment by $10. The day after, the opposition Labor Party announced at their 1 May campaign launch that they would lower payment by $12.50.
On 7 September 2022, the Australian Government tabled a Bill that from 1st January 2023 Australians will pay less for PBS scripts, maximum general co-payment dropping from $42.50 to $30.
That’s the first time in 75 years the PBS payment has been lowered and not increased.
This outcome is a significant win for community pharmacists and a historic commitment to benefit 76% of Australians (population 25 million).
