David Cullinane
Question:164. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the cost of adding menopause medicine treatments by type to the drug payment scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60741/21]
View answerWednesday, 8 December 2021
Questions (164)
Written answers
Under the Drug Payment Scheme (DPS), no individual or family pays more than €114 a month towards the cost of approved prescribed medicines. The maximum payable under the DPS will be further reduced to €100 per month from 1 January 2022. The scheme significantly reduces the cost burden for families and individuals with ongoing expenditure on medicines.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) has statutory responsibility for decisions on pricing and reimbursement of medicines under the community drug schemes (including the DPS), in accordance with the provisions of the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013.
Under the 2013 Act, there are formal processes which govern applications for the pricing and reimbursement of medicines - including that a company must submit an application to the HSE to have a new medicine added to the reimbursement list. HSE decisions on which medicines are reimbursed by the taxpayer are made on objective, scientific and economic grounds, on the advice of the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics (NCPE).
I, as Minister for Health, have no role in these decisions.
The HSE does not reimburse medicines or agree reimbursement terms in advance of the completion of the required processes. Therefore, it is not possible to give the cost of adding unspecified menopause medicines to the formal reimbursement list in advance of these processes.