Prescription charge could be 'penny wise and pound foolish'

THE TAOISEACH and the Minister for Health defended the 50 cent prescription charge for medical card holders in the face of Opposition criticism.

Referring to public expenditure cuts recommended by economist Colm McCarthy, Brian Cowen said: “One recommendation was for a €5 prescription charge, but we are charging 50 cent.”

Minister for Health Mary Harney described the charge as “modest”, adding that the maximum amount payable would be €10 per family per month.

“The charges are being introduced on foot of a Budget 2010 decision to address the rising costs in the general medical services scheme,” she added.

“The scheme also seeks to influence demand and prescribing patterns in the GMS, in a modest way.” Every saving and every contribution counted, said Ms Harney, and the measure could raise approximately €2 million per month.

“Every saving achieved by and for the HSE . . . will reduce, though not eliminate, the pressure on funding for frontline services, from hospitals and home help care packages to mental health services and services for people with disabilities and their families,” she said. Ms Harney said about 1.55 million people, or 35 per cent of the population, were medical card holders.

Payments to pharmacies under the GMS scheme increased from €748 million in 2004 to €1.129 billion in 2008.

The cost had increased by a further €50 million to reach €1.179 billion last year, despite a reduction in the fees paid to pharmacists from July and ongoing reductions in the prices of off-patent medicines, the Minister added.

Ms Harney said the cost of the GMS scheme, including payments to pharmacists and general practitioners, was projected to be more than €2 billion this year.

The number of prescriptions issued under the GMS increased by almost four million between 2004 and 2009 to more than 16 million. The number of items dispensed increased by over 15 million to just over 50 million, said Ms Harney.

Fine Gael spokesman Dr James Reilly said the measure was aimed at the most vulnerable, the sickest and weakest in society.

Yet again, the tough decisions that had to be made about generic prescribing, which could save €25 million in a full year, had been long-fingered.

He asked if the legislation “will transpire to be penny wise and pound foolish because it puts an obstruction between those with chronic illnesses and their medication.”

Labour spokeswoman Jan O’Sullivan said the people who would be affected were the poor and the sick who should not be subject to charges because of the drastic situation in the public finances.

“They are the very opposite of the people who should have to pay,” she added.

Sinn Féin spokesman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said the Bill was “a disgraceful item of legislation that targets the least well-off in Irish society”.

It was “a sneaky and dishonest” measure, said Mr Ó Caoláin, adding that the Bill empowered the Minister at any time in the future to make regulations varying the charges.