Reported at www.theguardian.com: The Australian federal government has announced a $573 million package to subsidise contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy for women’s health, allowing significant savings for hundreds of thousands of women.

The initiative will include new contraceptive pills on the PBS for the first time in decades and will also support other measures like increased Medicare payments for intrauterine devices.

The policy has received bipartisan support and is set to be implemented on March 1, with Medicare rebates for menopause health assessments starting in July.