Australia:Medicines to cost more and healthcare will suffer, according to Wikileaks documents
Secret trade negotiations, new details of which have been released by WikiLeaks, will undermine Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, and push up the cost of medicines for the Australian public.
In the latest of a series of high profile leaks, WikiLeaks has published more draft treaty text from the controversial Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations which the Abbott government claims will boost trade and investment across 40 per cent of the world economy.
Trade and healthcare experts are deeply concerned that the TPP agreement has the potential to undermine Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and other similar health programs such as that administered by New Zealand's Pharmaceutical Management Agency.
They say TPP countries will face a much greater risk that big pharmaceutical companies will contest government decisions relating to the listing or otherwise of medicines for reimbursement and engage in expensive litigation, with the result that consumers will pay more while corporate profits will be protected.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/medicines-to-cost-more-and-healthcare-will-suffer-according-to-wikileaks-documents-20150610-ghkxp0.html
