Faced with rising living expenses, Australians are increasingly turning to expired medications, skipping doses, or postponing their prescriptions to manage their budgets.

In an effort to address this growing concern, the federal government has reduced the cap on the price of drugs covered under its subsidy program, lowering it to $25.

This measure is projected to save taxpayers over $1 billion. However, a survey by the McKell Institute reveals that 43 percent of Australians have been prescribed medications that are not subsidized.

Consequently, nearly 20 percent of respondents admitted they couldn’t afford medications not covered by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).

Among those prescribed non-subsidized medicines, approximately 25 percent chose not to purchase them, about 33 percent delayed their purchases, and 16 percent had to forgo essentials to afford them.

In total, over 20 percent of participants reported postponing their prescriptions due to financial constraints, and 18 percent did not fill them at all.

Some 15 per cent skipped a dose to make it last longer, and 12 per cent reported taking expired medication rather than filling and paying for a new script.

“They have to make a really hard decision between food and medicine, between something for their family or for themselves,” McKell Institute chief executive Edward Cavanough told AAP.

“It’s a bit of a wake-up call.”

Australia’s PBS listing process.

Part of the problem is Australia’s slow PBS listing process.

In 2022, it took 391 days for a prescription medicine to go from being approved for use to being included on Australia’s subsidy scheme.

By comparison, it took 101 days in Japan, 121 days in Germany and 167 days in the UK.

This has worsened in recent years, widening to more than 600 days by 2025.

“We also have this flood of new and innovative medicines being approved,” Cavanough said.

“It’s a really positive thing to be able to capitalise on the benefits of that.

“(But) the PBS can’t keep up.”

Government defends investments in PBS

The government has reduced the maximum price on prescription medication multiple times since coming to office, with the PBS continually held up as a beacon of health policy by Australia’s major political players.

Health Minister Mark Butler on Friday announced a drug used to treat cerebral palsy was also being added to the scheme.

“Having already slashed the cost of medicines — with the largest cut to the cost of medicines in the history of the PBS in 2023 — we’ve gone even further, cutting the maximum price of a PBS medicine to $25, and frozen the maximum price for cardholders at $7.70 for the rest of the decade,” Butler told AAP.

“If we hadn’t made our investments in cheaper medicines, medicine prices would be as high as $50 a script this year.”

Cavanough said the government “deserves credit for the Cheaper Medicines reform, which has delivered genuine relief to millions of people, but this research shows that the policy isn’t helping almost half of all Australians”.

“Nearly half of all Australians are prescribed medicines that aren’t on the PBS, and for many of them, the situation is dire. When people are taking expired medication because they can’t afford to refill their script, it quickly changes from a minor policy gap into a serious public health problem,” he said.

“The government has shown it is willing to act boldly on medicines policy, but the question now is whether it is willing to go further.”

For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.