Cost savings in getting over the counter stuff as prescription? (Australia)

[poppy]

Hi all,

I used to claim back some of my spending on over the counter drops etc on my tax each year once I reached the out of pocket medical expenditure threshold.

However, in Australia the threshold has now been made much higher and the % you get back is much lower such that I am unlikely to be able to claim anything anymore and hardly worth the effort of working it all out.

I have read that it is possible to get over the counter medicines "prescribed" by a doctor. When you do this, your expenditure counts towards the medicare safety net (so I read). This threshold is much lower than the threshold for out of pocket expenditure on your tax return. Once you reach the medicare safety net threshold, I believe I would get a refund of 80% of the cost of my "prescribed" over the counter medicines as well as for most other health services (bonus!). From the information I have found, however, people only seem to recommend this for people who have a health care card or other concession. I can see the reasoning behind this; lacrilube for example normally costs $20+ OTC but a health care card holder would only pay a max of $5-6 for a script. Still, surely there can be some benefit for non-health care card holders in getting the cost of the OTC medicines added to their medicare safety net? I am confused and also suspecting that possibly, a non-health care card holder may be charged the maximum PBS cost of around $36 for my example of lacrilube, when the OTC cost is around $20-25, making this not worthwhile. If anyone could clarify that would be great...

PS I have also seen large boxes of systane single use vials at the pharmacy labelled "PBS pack". So surely there are some people out there using the system to their benefit?

[soaps]

Umm im not sure about pbs etc . also i have been told otc without prescriptions can't b claimed on tax but perhaps im wrong ?

but with an authority prescription u pay 35$ or $6 with health care card for however many boxes of eyedrops ur Dr puts down. this depends on how many u need a month . i only use this for eyedrops as i get my ointment from overseas.

So say u use 6 boxes a month u will pay a flat $35.not sure about ointment .

[poppy]

Umm im not sure about pbs etc . also i have been told otc without prescriptions can't b claimed on tax but perhaps im wrong ?

Thanks for the reply soaps, I do believe over the counter meds can be claimed on tax as out of pocket expenses, they do need to be for a medical condition and I believe, from pharmacy not a supermarket etc. However with the threshold being raised so high now (I think it is about $5000) and the refund % so low (I think it is 10%) it is hardly worth while bothering with. Soaps what eye drops are you getting your doc to prescribe to claim back? Mainly I am spending money on genteal gel, sterilid, lacrilube, from what I can tell only lacrilube can be "prescribed" but if genteal gel can be "prescribed" and go towards my medicare safety net that would be great as I go through a tube every few days.

[soaps]

I use theratear gel but it can be used with most drops bought in Australia . ive also read u can use it with tears spray thing. honestly if i it costs u more than 35 a month for any ointment or anything else eye related i would b asking for an authoritu script . doesn't hurt to ask. my optho does it but perhaps a gp can. but u will probably get dumb looks from most drs :/

[wagnermid]

Hi Poppy,

We get Lacrilube on prescription for my son. We get an authority script from our GP. We get a script for a months supply and 5 repeats, just now that is 4 boxes of 2, so 8 tubes a month for $5.90 as he has a Health Care Card for his disability. Cost without a healthcare card would be $36.10, so it's a gigantic saving. Our GP usually gets questioned about the quantity but he argues the case and they always approve it. We also get 8 boxes of Polygel and 3 boxes of Cellufresh each month. He reaches the safety net in April or May each year as he has lots of medication for other health problems and then they are free.

We didn't know about it till we changed GPs at the beginning of last year, until then we were buying it all over the counter.

You are right about the tax threshold increasing. I think it is income dependent too. You can claim over the counter medications as long as they are recommended by a Dr for a medical condition , so you would just need a letter from the Dr to say he recommended them if you were ever questioned about it

[soaps]

Yes just spoke to another more competent tax office person and wagnermid is right . but do u know if this includes eyewipes and vitamins ? Oh and compounded meds ?
These cost me a Fortune and i forgot to ask.

Sorry 36 a month . i pay 5.90 as have a concession for eye disability. pharmacy always have to order my huge order and seem surprised at low cost. but then u pay 70 for restasis and need every cent . the safety net confuses me so thanks for info as i will look into it.

[wagnermid]

The medicare safety net for prescriptions is only for PBS scripts. It is $354.00 (for concession card holders) and $1,390.60 for others. My son reaches his safety net and gets scripts free, while the rest of the family still has to pay as he is the only one with a health care card. With the tax offset for net medical expenses we claim our sons Melatonin which is compounded, but you need a script to get it anyway. I think it needs to be prescribed or "related to a medical condition" in order to claim it, and this year there have been changes to the taxable income for claiming.

[soaps]

Excellent that clears things Up. i probably have reached threshold or will soon. i thought it was 1000 and didn't know it was different for concession. so hard to read it all Up wen eyes hurt.
I only got concession half way through financial year this won't matter for tax amendment for medical expenses but is the medicare safety net calendar or financial year ? Thanks !!!
Yes i got scripts for compounded meds costing me 90 and 70 a month.

[wagnermid]

Hi Soaps,

It's calendar year. It might be worth talking to your pharmacist as if you now have a concession card you might have gone to the lower threshold. If that is the case the pharmacist sends a form off to Medicare and they refund any extra you have paid. I only found that out because we get some scripts through the hospital and when I took the card from there to our local pharmacy we had paid too much and Medicare sent us a cheque for about $20

[soaps]

Thanks . i spoke to the loveliest lady at pbs line and its 60 scripts per year for everyone if on concession or not. as it adds Up to the stated amounts above.

I also found out there is a safety net for specialist visits which is calculated automatically and then once reached gives u greater Medicare rebate . Ahhh how much i learn .

Also don't forget to add ur concession card to electricity and also add for medical rebate for use of humidifier .

How did info session go? I wasn't able to go due to bad eyes ...
Im loving the humid weather atm

[wagnermid]

Soaps, Thanks, I always wondered how they got to those strange amounts for the scripts! We get the safety net for Drs too, usually not till end of year, you just need to check with medicare that you are registered.

I didn't think of the humidifier as medical equipment for electricity but will look into it.

The information session was very good! They opened by saying how painful dry eye can be, and how debilitating it can be. The Drs who presented were very knowledgeable and easy to listen to, they are currently involved in research and they said they are looking for funding for more dry eye research and that the Save Sight Institute would like to set up a multidisciplinary clinic to treat dry eye in the future. They did fill in many gaps in my understanding. They had a great question and answer session and they were very open to all sorts of questions and were very helpful.

It was really well attended and so I imagine they will run more in the future.