HRT, contraceptive pills to cost less in major women’s health pledge

Contraceptive pills Yaz and Yasmin, which are used by 50,000 women and typically cost $380 a year, will be the first new oral contraceptives added to the PBS in more than 30 years. Government subsidies will bring them down to $126 a year, or $31 for concession cardholders, saving $254.

Both changes will come into effect on March 1. Health Minister Mark Butler said it was clear the PBS wasn’t working for women, given no new contraceptives or hormone therapies had been added to the scheme in decades even though these often had fewer side effects than older drugs.

“That’s why I asked our medicines experts to find a way to right that wrong,” he said. “Today’s announcement is a tribute to all the Australian women who have worked so hard, for so long, to have their voices heard and acknowledged.”

Labor is promising further investments as part of its pitch to female voters at the coming election.

A re-elected Albanese government will broaden the contraceptive options for young women by boosting funding for IUDs and birth control implants, which are inserted once and last several years.

Australian women lag other countries in uptake of long-acting contraceptives, with just one in 10 using them, compared to one in eight in New Zealand, and one in three in Sweden.

To make them more accessible, the government will boost Medicare rebates for bulk-billed IUD and implant insertions and removals by 150 per cent, a move forecast to save 300,000 women each year about $400 in out-of-pocket costs.

Labor says it will improve healthcare for women experiencing menopause and its precursor, perimenopause, by introducing a Medicare rebate for menopause health assessments by a GP from July.

It will also expand its network of endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics – establishing 11 centres on top of the 22 it has delivered since 2022 – and extend their remit to include specialist support for menopause and perimenopause.

This comes on top of workforce investments to better equip doctors and nurses to deal with women’s health issues.

Assistant Health Minister Ged Kearney said women’s health had long been shrouded in shame and stigma. “[This] will shift the dial on an entrenched culture of medical misogyny – we’re talking about alleviating pain, reducing delays in diagnosis, avoiding unplanned pregnancies, and transforming menopause care,” she said.

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Eight new training centres will aim to ensure health professionals are confident to insert and remove long-acting contraceptives, at a cost of $25 million. The government will also fund doctors to undergo extra training in menopause and establish national guidelines and an awareness campaign.

There will be another $100 million to fund two trials for pharmacies to give contraceptive pills over-the-counter and treat uncomplicated urinary tract infections, complementing current trials in several states and territories.

The package forms Labor’s awaited response to recommendations from senate inquiries on reproductive health and menopause.

Experts told both inquiries that such essential healthcare as hormone treatments and contraceptives left women hundreds of dollars out-of-pocket. Labor’s announcement represents the first major investment in decades, yet many of these medicines remain unsubsidised.

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