News

2008-11-03 Thousands of drugs cheaper as of November

Some 1500 drugs are be cheaper starting Saturday and another 1500 by the end of the year as new maximum prices were set for the drugs manufacturers, spokesman for the Czech Pharmacists' Association Ales Krebs told journalists Saturday.

However, patients will only see the impact of the measure after some weeks, after the pharmacies sell out the rest of their current supplies. When it comes to frequently sold drugs, the price cut will be effective within a few days' time.

The opposition, which is against the government sponsored health reform, says the price cuts will mostly stay in the paper.

"A large part of pharmacies is open today. Nothing essential will change for the patient, but firms have started delivering the drugs to the pharmacies at new prices," Krebs said.

"Within a month, pharmacies are to sell mostly cheaper drugs at new prices," he added.

The prices will be reduced for anti-cancer drugs and for pain-killers, which will save two billion and 750 million crowns, respectively, for patients and health insurance companies.

In all, the fall in maximum prices is to save 1.64 billion crowns a year for patients and 1.14 billion crowns for health insurance companies.

Martin Benes, director of the National Drugs Control Institute, told CTK that after the maximum prices were lowered, patients would have one-third more fully covered drugs than now from their insurance.

At present, health insurance companies fully cover roughly 2,000 drugs, while another one-third will be added to the list by the end of the year, Benes said.

For the saved money, it will be possible to treat more patients with more modern drugs, Benes said. Moreover, the price cuts will contribute to increasing the number of the drugs that are calculated within the yearly limit. After it is crossed, health insurance companies returns some money for check-ups and additional payment for some drugs to the patients.

Now the limit is to newly cover another 120 drugs.

Source: www.praguemonitor.com