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PHARMACEUTICAL BENEFITS IN AUSTRALIA AND SWEDEN: WELFARE POLICY AND THE COST OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
Author(s) -
Löfgren Hans
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
australian journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1839-4655
pISSN - 0157-6321
DOI - 10.1002/j.1839-4655.2001.tb01099.x
Subject(s) - pharmaceutical benefits scheme , equity (law) , legitimacy , universalism , scope (computer science) , project commissioning , autonomy , pharmaceutical policy , business , welfare , publishing , public economics , medical prescription , public health , public administration , public relations , health policy , political science , economics , medicine , law , pharmacology , nursing , politics , computer science , programming language
Pharmaceutical benefits provide a stable framework within which consumers, prescribers, suppliers, pharmacists and other actors undertake transactions. The state in effect delivers a good that enhances individual autonomy. A major reason for the legitimacy enjoyed by pharmaceutical benefits in both Australia and Sweden is that these programs have strong attributes of universalism (rather than targeting). Sweden's predominantly public health system allows greater scope for pharmaceutical policy innovation. Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), while historically resilient and effective, is now wedged precariously between traditional considerations of equity and public health on the one hand, and constant pressure for increased marketisation on the other.