Vol. 552 No. 1
419 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Health and Children if he has reached a decision as to the way in which, and when, persons who paid £42 on the drugs refund scheme, when they should correctly have paid £32, will be reimbursed; and the details of such a decision in this regard. [12055/02]
The drugs payment scheme was introduced with effect from 1 July 1999. The new scheme essentially amalgamated the existing drug cost subsidisation and drugs refund schemes and provided that families would only have to meet the first €53.33, £42, per month of expenditure on approved prescribed medicines. The existing threshold for the DCSS scheme was €40.63, £32, per month per individual and for the DRS it was €114.28, £90, per calendar quarter for each eligible person and his or her dependants. In the case of the DRS the person had to pay the purchase price of the drugs to the pharmacist and claim a refund from the appropriate health board at the end of the quarter.
The new drugs payments scheme was designed to bring about important improvements over the previous schemes, to be more user friendly and to significantly improve the cash flow situation for families and individuals incurring ongoing expenditure on medicines. The scheme was also designed to iron out anomalies whereby, for example, a person or family who might spend €101.58, £80, in one month on medicines and have no expenditure for the remainder of the quarter would not be entitled to any refund. Accordingly under this new scheme families are able to budget for the cost of prescribed medicines. Regardless of the cost of their prescribed medicines, families are liable only for a maximum of €53.33, £42, in any month. A further advantage is that applicants are not required to pay and claim a refund as in the previous schemes. In addition there are no qualifying criteria for the DPS unlike the previous DCSS where a person had to have a certificate from a doctor and be approved by a health board as having a long-term medical condition requiring regular and continuous prescribed drugs in excess of €40.63, £32, per month.
