Below is a list of the charges (prescription co-payments) you should expect to pay for your prescriptions. These are the charges you should pay per prescription item unless there is a part charge or premium on the item. Part charges occur when the manufacturers price is greater than the subsidy price. In most cases there will be an alternative medication available that is fully subsidized. Sometimes the total cost of the medicine will be less than the co-payment, when this occurs you will only pay the lower cost. As you will see, the prescription charges can be confusing. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss them.
(CSC is a Community Services Card, HUC is a High User Card, PSC is a Prescription Subsidy Card, PHO is a Primary Health Organisation most GPs will be members of one)
| Age | No Cards | with CSC | With HUC | enrolled PHO | PSC+no cards | PSC+CSC | PSC+HUC | PSC+PHO enrolled |
| Under 6 years | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| 6-17 years | $10 | $3 | $3 | $3 | $2 | $0 | $2 | $0 |
| 18 + years | $15 | $3 | $3 | $3 | $2 | $0 | $2 | $0 |
PLEASE NOTE: As of July 1st 2007, there will be a pharmacy fee of $1.00 on each new prescription item (up to $5 per patient) to cover services not covered by the DHBs dispensing fee. The fee is imposed in anticipation of any need for and provision of these additional services. You can avoid this fee by informing us before your prescription is processed and pharmaceuticals provided. In that case, if you want any additional service you will be charged for that additional service on an as and when required basis, but this will reflect the actual cost and time involved and may be more expensive for you than if you pay the pharmacy fee in anticipation of any need for and provision of the additional service. Our charge out rate is $100 (inc GST) per hour, charged in 5 minute blocks, plus any material costs (e.g. postage).
These additional services are:
- Receiving telephoned/faxed prescriptions
- Delivering pharmaceuticals (to a home or place of business if in local area)
- Providing pharmaceuticals outside of normal business hours (9am to 5pm)
- Where a prescription form does not include all the information it should in order to obtain government funding, obtaining this information from a person or organisation other than you
Children under 6 years old, narcotic prescriptions and those who hold a Prescription Subsidy Card will be exempt from these charges.
Should you not want to pay the pharmacy fee, here follows a list of what you could expect to pay...
- After hours pharmaceutical provision (outside 9am to 5pm): $1.00 per item
- Telephoned/faxed prescriptions: $3.00
- Phone call to obtain CSC details: $8.50
- Phone call to obtain Special Authority Number: $8.50
- Returning prescription to Doctor for subsidy endorsement: $9.50
- Returning prescription to Doctor for repeat subsidy endorsement: $5.00
- Delivery: $5.00 to local area. If postage required, then cost will be as for post or courier.