The state's peak health bodies have welcomed pledges from both parties aimed at reducing health care costs for senior Australians, but say more needs to be done to support the health needs of Tasmanians.
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The Coalition has committed $70 million across four years to expand access to the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card to another 50,000 senior Australians.
This would increase the singles income test threshold from $57,761 to about $90,000, and the couple's threshold from $92,416 to $144,000 from July 1 2022.
Labor has also promised to match the commitment.
This comes on top of cuts to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, which would cut the price of listed medications by $10 per script. Labor has upped this to $12.50 per script.
Pharmacy Guild of Australia president Helen O'Byrne said it was obvious that the concerns of the community and peak health bodies across the state were finally being listened to by policy makers.
"I think that anything that works towards making medicines more accessible than they are currently is going to be helpful," she said.
Ms O'Byrne said that recent research showed in Bass and across Australia, one in three were either deferring, delaying, or forgoing their medicines because of costs, and these changes would work to address this.
Despite the investments, concerns remain about how far the measures will go to addressing structural health care issues.
Ms O'Byrne said the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme still needed more structural reform to make medicines affordable in the long term.
Australian Medical Association Tasmania president John Saul said although they may result in savings for self-funded retirees who required multiple medications, the changes amounted to little more than "a nice headline".
"In reality, it looks like it might be $70 million over four years. Doing simple math, that's only $18 million a year or thereabout," Dr Saul said.
"When you look at the size of Tasmania compared to the rest of Australia ... that $18 million is not going to cover Tasmania very much at all."
Council on the Ageing chief executive Sue Leitch welcomed the announcements, saying they would allow for more affordable access to healthcare and would ease medication costs.
But Ms Leitch said more could be done for Tasmania's pensioners.
"We need better [uncapped] access to allied health, and access to oral and dental health for older Tasmanians through Medicare," she said.
"This fixed income significantly impacts those who have higher health needs as access to bulk billing practices in Tasmania has reduced and cost of living impacts on people's ability to pay for healthcare".
Ms Leitch said that due to Tasmania's higher levels of disability and a larger elderly population, more investment in demographic specific mental health programs and dedicated health services were needed.
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