primary · Services Australia
Co-payment
General and concessional co-payments, indexed 1 January — see PBS
Do not hard-code a co-payment here; it changes on 1 January and differs for general vs concessional.
I need subsidised medicine · Department of Health / Services Australia
Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
Subsidised medicines list. You pay a co-payment; the Commonwealth pays the rest for listed items. Safety net reduces co-payments after a threshold.
General and concessional co-payments, indexed 1 January — see PBS
Who it is for
Medicare-eligible people. Concession card holders pay the concessional co-payment.
Public medicine subsidy. Private health extras for pharmacy are not the PBS. Medical schemes in South Africa are a different system.
ISSA (1 January 2024) — PBS design (ISSA 2024)
Must have a current Medicare card. Listed medicines only. Co-payments and safety-net thresholds increase in January with CPI. ISSA’s 2024 dollar co-payments are stale — Compass does not use them as current.
Conditions
- Listing
- The medicine must be PBS-listed for that indication.
- Concession
- Pensioner Concession / Health Care Card holders pay the concessional co-payment.
Primary source first. A disputed or stale figure stays visible. Hover a rand or dollar figure for four other currencies. W weekly · F fortnightly · M monthly · A annually.
stale · International Social Security Association
ISSA 1 Jan 2024 — general co-payment
A$31.60 / item
From 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31
PBS co-payments index on 1 January. Do not treat 2024 as current. Compass keeps the live PBS formula.
stale · International Social Security Association
ISSA 1 Jan 2024 — concessional co-payment
A$7.70 / item
From 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31
Indexed 1 January. Keep the live PBS page, not this 2024 figure.
Cross-checks
- agrees A guide to Australian Government payments Use the current PBS co-payment page rather than a cached blog figure.
- disagrees ISSA country profile — Australia ISSA Country profiles: Australia, policies as of 1 January 2024 (https://www.issa.int/node/195543?country=796). Amounts lag the 1 July 2026 payments guide (co029-2607). Compass keeps 2026.
How to apply
No separate claim — the pharmacy applies PBS when you present a valid prescription and Medicare/concession details.
Methodology
Amounts and conditions are stored on this payment in Core AU (coreau_ss_*). Verify with the administrator before you rely on a number.