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09-04-2026

Tens of millions of euros for residents’ health: for whom and how are medication co-payments covered?

Iliustracija

Last year, around 1.3 million residents purchased reimbursable medicines or medical aids — nearly every second person in Lithuania. For about half a million of them, the state covered not only the reimbursable portion of the medicine or aid, but also the co-payment. The co-payment was covered in cases where residents had accumulated the co-payment basket for reimbursable medicines or belonged to social groups whose co-payments are covered.

The reimbursable medicine co-payment basket is continuously accumulated for all people covered by compulsory health insurance from the beginning to the end of each calendar year. This means that throughout the year, the co-payments paid by an insured person when purchasing reimbursable medicines with the lowest co-payment are added up. Once the established basket limit is reached, co-payments for such medicines are covered by state funds until the end of the year. This year, the limit of the reimbursable medicine co-payment basket has been set at EUR 70.02.

“The possibility to accumulate a medicine co-payment basket and, once the limit is reached, no longer pay co-payments is especially important for patients who need to regularly use several reimbursable medicines. For example, this applies to people suffering from severe or chronic illnesses who therefore face higher medication expenses.

In such cases, even a few euros paid for medicines each month can add up to significant annual savings,” says Evaldas Stropus, the Head of the Pharmaceuticals Reimbursement Department at the National Health Insurance Fund. 

Last year, the medicine co-payments of 105,000 people were covered after they had accumulated the co-payment basket. In total, about EUR 5.6 million was required for this. Thus, for approximately every twelfth resident of the country using reimbursable medicines, the co-payment basket became a real form of financial support.

The size of the medicine co-payment basket changes over time. At the end of each calendar year, a resident’s basket is reset and starts being calculated again from the beginning. People can view the accumulated amount in their eHealth account, and those who are unable to use electronic services can inquire at a pharmacy or contact the health insurance fund.

It is important to know that the co-payment basket accumulation system does not apply to medical aids. However, in addition to the co-payment basket, another support measure is in place — the state covers co-payments for both medicines and medical aids for socially vulnerable groups of residents.

Co-payments for reimbursable medicines and medical aids included in the lists approved by the Minister of Health are waived for residents aged 75 and older, as well as for people with disabilities whose insurable income is less than EUR 468 per month, and for people of retirement age receiving such income.

Last year, on this basis, co-payments were covered for nearly 400,000 patients in these groups, and the total amount of covered co-payments reached almost EUR 40 million.

The NHIF invites you:

Last updated: 12-05-2026

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