Drug card limit rising from €65 to €75

PATIENTS face paying more for drugs as part of a cost-cutting measure to reign in Government spending.

The threshold for the drugs refund scheme, which limits the amount people have to spend on prescribed medicines every month, is to be increased from €65 to at least €75 early next year.

The cost of the drugs refund scheme to the Exchequer has soared by 40% or €56m in the last two years and Health Minister Micheál Martin yesterday said this increase was unsustainable.