Australia's pharmaceutical benefits system: flawed but improving, and better than anywhere else.

The composition and role of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) has been the subject of acrimonious debate through the media in recent months, with accusations of government subjugation to strong industry lobby groups at the future expense of the Australian taxpayer. An understanding of the issues at this more political level is helped by appreciation of the rationale for the current process of listing drugs for reimbursement on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). I will try to give the non-economist reader an overview of the system and share some perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses of what is fundamentally a good system.