Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme

To buy PBS medicines from a pharmacist, you’ll need a doctor's prescription. Your pharmacist can tell you if your medicine is cheaper under the PBS.

PBS medicine is available to:

• all Australians and concession card holders who have a current Medicare card
• visitors from overseas countries with which Australia has a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement (RHCA)
• veterans, war widows and widowers, and dependants who are eligible under the Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (RPBS).

If you’re an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Australian, you can get more help to buy medicine if you either:

• have a chronic disease
• are at risk of one.

If so, the Closing the Gap PBS Co-payment helps you get most PBS medicines for less. If you have a Health Care Card, your medicine will be free.

Read more about the Closing the Gap PBS Co-payment on the PBS website.