36Eligibility for Payment of Pharmaceutical Reimbursement

36  Eligibility for Payment of Pharmaceutical Reimbursement

 (1) To be eligible for payment of the pharmaceutical reimbursement an Eligible Person must:

 (a) have rendered warlike service; and

 (b) be entitled to compensation under section 68 or section 75 of the Act or suffer from a SRCA disability.

Note (1): warlike service is defined in subsection 6(1) of the Act.

Note (2): section 68 is about compensation for a service injury or disease that has resulted in an impairment likely to continue indefinitely and section 75 (interim compensation) is about compensation under section 68 or section 71 where an impairment has not stabilised. 

Note (3): section 69 of the Act generally requires the degree of impairment to be at least 10 impairment points before compensation is payable under s.68 but in certain cases it can be 5.

37  Calculation of annual value of pharmaceutical allowance component of MRCA supplement, pension supplement, veterans supplement

  The annual value of the pharmaceutical allowance is calculated as follows:

 (a) for a member in receipt of the MRCA supplement or veterans supplement at different times throughout the year, the amount of $6 per fortnight, indexed according to section 198F of the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986:

 (i) as if the amount of $6 is the dollar amount in subsection 198F(1);

 (ii) since September 2009 (i.e. once annually since 1 January 2010), calculated at a daily rate and valued according to the number of days in the calendar year the MRCA supplement or veterans supplement was payable;

 (b) Subject to (d), for a member in receipt of an income support payment or an income support payment under the Social Security Act 1991 that attracts a pension supplement or a social security pension supplement greater than the basic amount of pension supplement, the amount of $6 per fortnight, indexed according to Division 18 of Part IIIB of the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986:

 (i) as if the amount of $6 is an amount of PS rate (pension supplement rate) in Item 1A of the CPI Indexation Table in section 59B;

 (ii) since September 2009 (i.e. each 20 March and 20 September commencing 20 March 2010), calculated at a daily rate and valued according to the number of days in the calendar year pension supplement was payable;

 (c) for a member in receipt of pension supplement, who is a member of a couple and whose partner is a member or veteran—50% of the amount in (b).

Note:  “partner” is defined in section 5 of the Act.

 (d) for a member in receipt of pension supplement who is a member of a couple and whose partner does not receive an income support payment or an income support payment under the Social Security Act 1991 that attracts a social security pension supplement greater than the basic amount of pension supplement—50% of the amount in (b).