‘We’ve got to get there’: Calls grow for weight loss drugs to be added to PBS as Aussies pay up to $600 a month

Calls are growing for weight loss drugs to be added to the PBS, as soaring costs leave the potentially life-changing treatments out of reach for many Australians.

Weight loss drugs can cost as much as $600 a month, or $150 every week, a cost many can’t afford without government support.

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Health Minister Mark Butler has claimed weight loss drugs are too far out of reach for many Australians, with around 600,000 Australians currently accessing weight loss drugs through the private market.

“This is a revolutionary class of drugs, and I certainly want to see them on the PBS so that Australians have access to them in an equitable way,” Butler told Sunrise on Monday.

“It’s way out of reach of far too many Australians.”

The medicine experts who oversee the PBS have recommended a relatively limited listing for weight loss drugs, covering people with a body mass index of 35 or higher and established cardiovascular disease.

Butler said the biggest hurdle to getting the drugs subsidised was reaching an agreement on price with pharmaceutical companies.

“We haven’t been able to agree that price yet but we’ve got to get there,” he said.

“This is too important a class of drugs not to have on the PBS. I’ve made that clear to the two companies that have these drugs in the market and to my department.

“There are too many benefits for too many Australians to have it available only to those who are able to find $5,000 or $6,000 a year for it.”

Butler said broader pressure on the global medicines market, driven by policy decisions in the US, was also affecting negotiations for other treatments, including medicines for multiple sclerosis and breast cancer.

The push to make medicines more affordable comes as the government commits to improvements in access to another key part of the health system, with bulk billing figures on the rise.

Health Minister Mark Butler has backed push to add weight loss drugs to PBS amid soaring costs. Credit: Sunrise

New government figures released on Monday show rates increasing from 81.9 per cent to 84.1 per cent nationwide in the June quarter.

Rates in NSW and Victoria remain the highest, both sitting above 85 per cent, while the Northern Territory saw an annual rise of 13 per cent.

The ACT trails behind its counterpart states at just 59.3 per cent.

Butler said the figures mean there will be “millions” of additional free visits to the doctor this year, with pensioners seeing bulk billing rates well over 90 per cent again.

“It means that people are going to the doctor when they need to, rather than when they feel they can find the $50 or $60 to pay the gap fee,” he said. 

People without concession cards have also seen their bulk billing rates climb by more than 10 per cent since last October, with some regions including the Illawarra, Northern Territory, Northern Tasmania and Bendigo seeing increases of 20 per cent to 30 per cent.

“Turning around bulk billing is not just a great cost-of-living measure… we know it is leading to better health and building a healthier Australia,” he said.