Vol. 422 No. 5
127 Mr. Cotter asked the Minister for Health if he will outline the amount of savings which accrued to his Department as a result of the amendment to the drugs refund scheme introduced on 1 August 1991; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The drugs refund scheme, which provides for a refund of any expenditure on prescribed drugs and medicines in excess of a specified amount over a prescribed period, was amended with effect from 1 August 1991. It was estimated that the changes made would result in savings of the order of £2.5 million in the cost of the scheme in the period up to 31 December 1991. Increasing demand across the other community drug schemes in the course of 1991, however, resulted in the erosion of this estimate with new savings realised amounting to £1.3 million.
128 Mr. Noonan (Limerick East) asked the Minister for Health if he will outline the total cost of rebates by health boards under the rebate on drugs scheme in 1991 and the estimated cost in 1992.
Expenditure on the refund on drugs scheme in 1991 amounted to £21.2 million which includes expenditure on the drug cost subsidisation scheme which is an adjunct of the refund scheme.
Given the demand led nature of these schemes, it is too early at this stage to give an accurate indication of the level of expenditure in 1992.
