Persons suffering from prescribed conditions, who are not already medical card holders, can get free drugs, medicines and medical and surgical appliances for the treatment of that condition under the Long Term Illness Scheme. Medical card holders are required to pay prescription charges. Prescription charges are not payable in respect of items supplied under the Long Term Illness Scheme. In the case of persons who have both the medical card and LTI, the HSE policy is that they should use their medical card to access medicines. The main reason for this is that the supply of medicines under the LTI costs the HSE considerably more than under the GMS Scheme. A retail mark-up of 20% is payable to pharmacists for items supplied under the LTI Scheme. However, following a review of the rates of fees payable to health professionals (under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act, 2009) my colleague, Minister Reilly, announced (on the 2nd of July) the elimination of the retail mark-up. Regulations are being prepared to give effect to this decision. There is no retail mark-up for items supplied under the GMS Scheme. The decision by the previous Government not to extend prescription charges to the Long Term Illness Scheme gave rise to the anomaly identified by the Deputy. This matter is under review.
