Cost of medicines in Andalucia

Information and questions about the Law in Spain and Andalucia.
morlandg
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Cost of medicines in Andalucia

Postby morlandg » Thu Apr 22, 2021 8:44 am

Talking to a friend in a bar yesterday and couldn't believe how much he said he was paying per month for his prescribed medicines. His wife works and has a full contract, paying for her health care via automatic deductions from her salary. My friend is married to her and receives his health care 'on the back' of her as a dependant. He has recently had some heart problems and is on new medication as prescribed by the cardiologist. He tells me that he now has to pay over €100 per month. He/they cannot afford this. I told him that , as I understand it, there is a monthly cap to cost of prescriptions. He told me that the cost varies with each different pharmacia he uses. Ok - I suppose that is probably because some dispense cheaper generic medicines. But as I told him - the pharmacia is connected to the health service (or whichever department is the relevant one) via computer link and the charge for his medicines is automatically calculated according to his (?or his wife's) monthly income. And I understand that there is a cap applied. I don't know the bands nor the percentage charges. Nor the monthly cap. But I understand this is how it works in principle. I told my friend that the cap must be a whole lot less than the €100 he pays. I hope I haven't given him false hope. Can someone correct me, if necessary, and explain how the system does actually work?

elusive
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Re: Cost of medicines in Andalucia

Postby elusive » Thu Apr 22, 2021 8:55 am

Yes theres a cap depending on your income. Far less than 100 euros Id have to look up the actual rates but its something like if you are a pensioner you pay 10% of the prescription charge upto a max of 18 euro a month if you earn over x amount. If you are working the top rate is 50% then 40% of the full price depending on your wage.

He can ask the chemist to check what % he is paying via his healthcard. Different codes mean different levels.

Free at Last
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Re: Cost of medicines in Andalucia

Postby Free at Last » Thu Apr 22, 2021 9:49 am

According to the information I have seen, there is no cap on the monthly cost of medications for people of working age, unfortunately.

https://www.healthplanspain.com/blog/he ... spain.html

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Wicksey
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Re: Cost of medicines in Andalucia

Postby Wicksey » Thu Apr 22, 2021 10:02 am

According to my records on Clicsalud this is my percentage I pay:
Prestación farmacéutica
Porcentaje de aportación: 40% (TSI 003)

I am not working and they have no details of my income as far as I am aware (and I am below pension age).

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Re: Cost of medicines in Andalucia

Postby Free at Last » Thu Apr 22, 2021 10:10 am

If you submit Spanish tax returns, they will have details of your income. It says in the article I linked to that the percentages are based on the income declared in your annual return (IRPF).

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Re: Cost of medicines in Andalucia

Postby Free at Last » Thu Apr 22, 2021 10:26 am

The information from the official JdeA website confirms there is no cap for non pensioners. There have been a few changes this year so some categories are now exempt from any charges (including people with a registered degree of disability above 33% and pensioners with extremely low incomes) but they would not seem to apply to the OP's friend.

https://www.sspa.juntadeandalucia.es/se ... rmaceutica

elusive
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Re: Cost of medicines in Andalucia

Postby elusive » Thu Apr 22, 2021 1:21 pm

Thanks for clarifying free. Even with no cap that amount seems excessive? must be one heck of an expensive drug

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Re: Cost of medicines in Andalucia

Postby Free at Last » Thu Apr 22, 2021 1:38 pm

Lol

Some of them are, I've read of people having to have regular injections which cost thousands for each one. It does seem really unfair and I don't know how people cope who are unfortunate enough to have to be prescribed some really expensive medication. It's effectively a financial penalty on them for being ill, as if being ill wasn't bad enough.

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Re: Cost of medicines in Andalucia

Postby Free at Last » Thu Apr 22, 2021 4:06 pm

There is also, apparently, another category for medications used to treat chronic illnesses (Grupo ATC) which includes such things as insulin, anti-immunosuppressants, antidepressants, etc. for which patients pay 10% with a maximum of €4.24 per item. I don't know if the medication prescribed for the OP's friend would fall into that category.

https://www.asefarma.com/blog-farmacia/ ... -te-afecta

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Re: Cost of medicines in Andalucia

Postby morlandg » Sat Apr 24, 2021 8:14 am

Thank you all for responding. I think the jury is still out on whether there is a cap or not. I presume my pal does not have a digital signature for accessing clicsalud so all I can do is to advise him is to check with his pharmacia. G


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