$5 Charge For Prescribed Medication

From 1 July 2024, the standard $5.00 government charge to collect prescribed medicine (the prescription co-payment) is back. 

The government charge does not apply for repeats on the same prescription form. 

What has changed 

Starting 1 July 2024, people will need to pay the $5.00 government charge for each new prescription unless they are either: 

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

Once a person or a family unit reaches 20 new prescription items in a year, they are eligible for a Prescription Subsidy Card. This means the person or family unit will not have to pay any more $5.00 prescription co-payment charges until 1 February the following year. 

Ask your pharmacist how this works. 

Prescription charges written by private specialists and private dentists remain the same at $15.00 for an adult and $10.00 for those 14 to 17 years old.

This is reduced to $5.00 if they have a High Use Health card, or an oral contraceptive was prescribed by a private specialist, and will be free if a person holds a Community Services Card. 

FAQs

Q .Will I be charged the $5.00 prescription co-payment at my pharmacy each time I pick up a prescribed medicine, including all repeat prescriptions? 

A. The $5 prescription co-payment applies to each new medicine on a new prescription - it is a one-time $5.00 charge for each new medicine at the start of a new prescription. The $5.00 charge does not apply to repeats on the same prescription form. 

Q. When I bring a new prescription into my pharmacist with multiple medicine items on one piece of paper, is that one $5.00 charge? 

A. No, the government prescription co-payment charge is applied to each new medicine item on the prescription form. For example, three new medicine items on a single prescription form are charged as a total of $15 in prescription co-payments, the repeat supplies of medication on the same prescription do not incur a charge. 

Q. Why are pharmacies charging for prescriptions again in a “cost of living” crisis? 

A. The $5.00 co-payment charge is collected by pharmacies on behalf of the government. Reinstating the prescription co-payment was announced in the May 2024 budget as part of the programme of reprioritization of government funding. 

The charge was removed in July 2023, and is back starting 1 July 2024.