Prescription charges remain at 50c

WARNINGS of a €50 annual medical card fee and an increase in prescription charges for medical card holders failed to materialise, but the charges for getting medication will remain.

Health Minister James Reilly said he regretted that, because of the current financial climate, he was not be in a position to remove the 50c prescription charges — one of his goals on entering office.

He had previously voiced concerns that the charge might result in people not taking their medication, particularly those on long-term medication

However, Dr Reilly said he was able to rule out an increase in prescription charges, despite the very difficult budgetary situation.

“Since the charge raises €27m annually it was simply not possible to abolish it at this time without adversely affecting frontline services,” he said yesterday.

He pointed out that increasing the monthly threshold for the Drugs Payment Scheme from €120 to €132 per month saves the exchequer €12m.

Minister of State for Primary Care, Roisín Shortall, outlined measures being taken to reduce the price of drugs, such as reference pricing and generic drugs and reduced service fees to save €12m.

She pointed out that spending by the HSE in 2010 amounted to around €2bn.

The Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA) agreed to a series of measures to cut drug expenditure by €200m in 2011. As a result, the prices of more than 1,000 medicines were reduced since January.

She said further discussions would take place with the IPHA to reduce the price of patent-protected drugs in 2012.

She said legislation to be published next year would introduce a system of reference pricing and generic substitution for drugs prescribed under the General Medical Scheme and the community drug schemes.

Ms Shortall said the reforms would promote price competition among suppliers, ensure lower prices are paid for medicines and result in significant savings for taxpayers and patients.

Meanwhile, front-line health services will be hit by the reduction in public health numbers, Dr Reilly has warned.

The minister also said it was not going to be possible to protect some services. “There will be a reduction in services — it will be unavoidable,” he warned.

Dr Reilly also said there was now no doubt but that some community nursing units would have to close next year.