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27-06-2023

“A basket of premiums” will help to decrease medication costs for residents

Iliustracija

As of 1 July, an updated procedure for reimbursement of medications enters into force, it will help to decrease costs for the patients who purchase reimbursed medicines with the smallest premium. A so-called basket of premiums will be applied for these patients, when a patient reaches the annual cost of the basket, he will no longer have to pay a premium for other reimbursable medicines purchased at the smallest premium until the beginning of the next calendar year.

Minister of Health Arūnas Dulkys indicates that it is used to promote citizens to select the medicines for which the state has negotiated the best price, thus, paving the way for more people to benefit from reimbursements for medications.

“It is particularly important for residents, who use medications most frequently and who are price sensitive, such as the elderly, people with chronic diseases and others, they can save money. We estimate that more than 100,000 people in the country will benefit from the basket in total, that is one in ten citizens taking reimbursed medicines”, said the Minister.

The basket of premiums is calculated by adding three average annual premiums for reimbursed medicines with the smallest premium, based on the data from the previous calendar year. To check how much has already been accumulated in the premium basket, people can use their eHealth personal account (www.esveikata.lt).

It is important to note that the basket of premiums is applied only to the medicines with the smallest premium, thus, promoting rational use of medicines. In order to reduce patients’ costs for purchasing reimbursable medicines, not only medicines with the smallest patient’s premium as indicated in the current list of reimbursable medicines will belong to this group but also medications with a low therapeutic index (anti-epileptic medicines, immunosuppressants prescribed after transplantation), biological medicines of one supplier and of one group and medicines, prescription of which by indicating a specific name has been decided by the consortium of doctors for a particular patient, on the basis of therapeutic indications of a medication (i.e. all the medicines which cannot be replaced or can only be replaced on the doctor’s instructions).

According to the estimates of the National Health Insurance Fund under the Ministry of Health, the basket of premiums will help to reduce the cost of medicines for around 120,000 patients. It is also expected to increase competition among manufacturers for the smallest premium, which would lead to lower prices for reimbursed medicines.

The introduction of the basket of premiums will result in extra EUR 8.9 million from the state budget being allocated annually for the reimbursement of medicines.

In order to ease the financial burden on households and to allow more people to benefit from the reimbursement of medicines, the MOH aims to create the best possible conditions for competition between pharmacies and manufacturers and to encourage people to choose the medicines with the smallest premium.

The Ministry reiterates that generic medicines, while usually being cheaper than original medicines, are just as effective, safe and of high quality. The quality, safety and efficacy requirements for both generic and original (reference) medicines are identical and established by laws of the European Union (EU) and Lithuania, and compliance with these requirements is ensured by the responsible authorities of both the EU and Lithuania.

Since the beginning of this year, following amendments to the Law on Pharmaceuticals, the pricing of reimbursable medicines has been based on the average of the lowest-priced EU countries, as well as on the maximum patient’s premiums that can be charged for medicines and medical devices.

Ministy of Health Communication Department 

(Freepik photo)

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Last updated: 09-08-2023

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