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Distributional Impact of Government Outlays on the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in 2001–02
Author(s) -
HARDING ANN,
ABELLO ANNIE,
BROWN LAURIE,
PHILLIPS BEN
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
economic record
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.365
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1475-4932
pISSN - 0013-0249
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4932.2004.00187.x
Subject(s) - pharmaceutical benefits scheme , government (linguistics) , microsimulation , economics , public economics , scheme (mathematics) , demographic economics , business , engineering , medicine , mathematics , transport engineering , mathematical analysis , philosophy , linguistics , medical prescription , pharmacology
In recent years outlays on the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme have increased rapidly, prompting both attempts by government to reduce growth in outlays and renewed interest in the characteristics of the beneficiaries of the Scheme. This article uses a microsimulation model to analyse the distributional impact of Australian Government outlays on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, by such characteristics as family income, family type, age, sex and lifecycle group. We find that there are pronounced distributional effects by such characteristics as income, age and sex, with both older and poorer Australians receiving far greater PBS benefits than younger and more affluent Australians.