Hundreds of Australians with breast and prostate cancer will benefit from new treatments being added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
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00:00It's fantastic news for the 10,000 Australians who have metastatic breast cancer, that is
00:08breast cancer that has moved from the breast to other parts of the body, such as the lungs
00:12or the brain. Now, Linparza is the drug that is already on the pharmaceutical benefits
00:17scheme for people with breast cancer, prostate cancer or ovarian cancer, but it will now
00:21be extended to people who have metastatic breast cancer. The government says that this
00:26will benefit around about 300 people per year and if it wasn't on the PBS, they'd be looking
00:33at paying $72,000 per course of treatment. Now, breast cancer is associated with a genetic
00:39mutation of the BRCA genes and it's something that is often inherited and that gene can
00:45become particularly risky in metastatic breast cancer treatments, patients I should say.
00:51Now people who are able to actually get a test to find that gene, what the government
00:56has announced today is that it is extending the Medicare payment so that all people who
01:01are diagnosed with breast cancer will now be able to get that test straight away. Here's
01:06the Health Minister, Mark Butler, speaking about that.
01:09Currently, that Medicare payment has been quite restricted. We're now making it available
01:15to every single breast cancer patient. So soon after your diagnosis, you will be able
01:20to get this genetic test, determine whether or not you have an inherited genetic mutation
01:26or mutation to the BRCA genes in particular, and you won't have to pay as much as $1,200,
01:33which is what this test would cost.
01:37Now talazoparib is another drug that is being added to the PBS in concoction with another
01:42drug which will be helping people with metastatic prostate cancer. The government thinks that
01:47this will probably benefit about 180 patients per year, and if it wasn't on the PBS, they'd
01:53be looking at payments of $100,000 per course of treatment.
01:57Peter, there's also been talk about the Albanese government making changes to bulk billing.
02:03What do we know about this?
02:04Yeah, there's some reports in the nine newspapers today that says the government is considering,
02:10hasn't yet got over the line, but is looking at increasing the bulk billing incentive payment
02:14for GPs and also looking at adding more urgent care clinics as well. Now Mark Butler, as
02:20you just heard, held a press conference today. He was asked about this and said he didn't
02:24have any announcements today, but said that his government is looking at doing more for
02:29bulk billing, and he also praised urgent care clinics and the role that they are playing
02:34in taking pressures off emergency departments. Now these reports also said that the government
02:39is looking at a system possible change of moving away from GPs receiving fees for appointments
02:44to a program where they would receive an annual lump sum payment. Now he said that
02:50this is something that he's not announcing today, but it is a policy that he has long
02:55held support for, that they would be talking to the community about this before they do
03:01go ahead, but he said it's something that they've been looking at for some time. He
03:05said that there would always be a system of some fees being paid for appointments, but
03:09they'd be looking towards more of a middle ground between that system and the lump sum
03:13payment.