New Prescription charges

From 1 July 2024, the government prescription co-payment is back.

People will have to pay the standard $5 prescription charge, with exemptions for people:

• aged 13 years or under
• holding a Community Services Card (CSC) holder, or a dependent child of a CSC holder
• aged 65 years or over
• holding a Prescription Subsidy Card (PSC).

This applies to every medicine on new prescriptions, but will not apply to repeat supplies on the same prescription. 

Prescriptions from specialists and non-publicly funded prescribers will still attract a:

• $15 co-payment for adults 18 years and older
• $10 co-payment for people aged 14 to 17 years old. 

This is reduced to $5 with a High Use Health Card, or an oral contraceptive prescribed by a private specialist. It will be free if a person holds a Community Services Card.

All prescriptions with either a $15, $10 or $5 co-payment will count towards the 20 prescription items a patient or family collect in a year. Once a person or family reach 20 paid prescription co-payments in a year, they can get a Prescription Subsidy Card. This means they will not have to pay any more prescription charges until the next 1 February. 

Pharmacies may charge for extra services such as medicines delivery or packaging. There may be an additional cost if a prescribed medicine is not fully subsidised. Fees for medicines that are not fully funded by Pharmac remain the same.

For more information talk to your general practice or pharmacist.