The Reimbursement Act specifies which drugs will be reimbursed, i.e. cheaper. It also assumes that 17 percent. expenditure of the National He alth Fund on he alth services will have to be allocated to reimbursement of drugs. The act also introduces the obligation for pharmacies to conclude agreements with the National He alth Fund, in which they undertake to comply with the prices included in the announcements containing lists of reimbursed products.
The new act also provides for a tax on drug reimbursement. Who is to pay it? According to the act, the payer is to be pharmaceutical companies.Pharmaceutical companieswill be obliged to donate 3 percent. profit from salesreimbursed drugs . The bill assumes that the price of the reimbursed drug will be constant, andthe Ministry of He althwill negotiate it with the manufacturer. From this value, an official margin of 5% will be set. (the current margin is as high as 8.91 percent). As a result, the prices of reimbursed drugs cannot be lower or higher than those established by the Ministry of He alth.
Free drugs on the new list of reimbursed drugs
According to the Act, drugs with proven effectiveness in the treatment of malignant neoplasms, mental illness, mental retardation, developmental disorders, infectious diseases of particular epidemic risk, as well as drugs from therapeutic programs and chemotherapy are to remain free of charge.
The Office of Consumer and Consumer Protection believes that the introduction of fixed prices and margins contradicts the rules of the free market, as wholesalers and pharmacies make it impossible to compete.
List of reimbursed drugs valid from November 16, 2011
The list of drugs reimbursed by the state has recently expanded. The list of reimbursed drugs has been in force since November 16, 2011. o cancer drugs, new drugs for schizophrenia and preparations used in gynecological diseases. The current list was compiled according to the current rules. When planning it, the Ministry of He alth assumed that after banning the promotion in pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies would lower the prices of all drugs. The list of reimbursed drugs has been extended, among others o new pharmaceuticals for the treatment of cancer. These are the hormonal drugs used intreatment of breast cancer, drugs to prevent nausea after chemotherapy, and painkillers given to cancer patients in the form of a nasal spray. Medicines used in certain gynecological diseases (e.g. endometriosis) were also covered by the reimbursement.
The list of reimbursed drugs from November 16 is the last list prepared by the Ministry of He alth on the basis of the old rules.
New Reimbursement Act 2012 - new rules
A new reimbursement act enters into force in 2012, which prohibits, inter alia, lowering the prices of reimbursed drugs in pharmacies. The Ministry of He alth hopes that after abandoning the promotion at selected points, manufacturers and distributors of drugs will lower their prices on the entire market. Negotiations on the prices of the Ministry of He alth with pharmaceutical companies are to last until the end of December. The companies estimate that the talks may concern nearly 3.6 thousand drugs.
The new reimbursement act introduces the possibility of sharing the risks associated with treatment
For the pharmaceutical company, this means the necessity to bear some of the costs of treating a patient who develops complications after taking the drug. The company may also take over the costs of treating patients in whom the drug has not worked after a certain period of use. The state will pay for the patients for whom the drug has proven to be effective. Such solutions are aimed at controlling costs by the National He alth Fund. The profit for the pharmaceutical company is to be the growing number of patients treated with its drugs.