50 cent levy on perscription charge

squeky

hi,

Im curious to know about this, i have a monthly perscription that is dispensed weekly, i have 18 item of pills on the pescription.

Week 1 - 10 item i receive @.50 = €5.00
Weel 2 - 12 items i receive @ .50 = €6.00
Week 3 - 11 items i receive @ .50 = €5.50
Week 4 - 11 items i receive@ .50 = €5.50

Total €22.00 per month i have to pay for my pills.

I see they have a cap on it for €10.00 per family per month,
Is that all i pay them per month so ?
or do i have to pay the chemist the €22 and claim back the rest does anybody have any idea.

Thanks

rugbug86

Could you not just get them all dispensed in the first week?

LisaO

You will pay max of €10 per month. Pharmacy will have all details on computer & will only charge you up to & inc the €10. Anything after that in the same (calendar) month & you won't have to pay.

FluffyCat

I was wondering when this topic would pop up in boards.

Yes its true you pay a total of 10 euro but if you go to different pharmacys in the one month you will have to claim anything above 10 euro from the HSE.

squeky

rugbug86,

I used to get a month supply of pills but then they got rid of that saying that it best to dispense the pills weekly due to people having stock up of them at home, i was 4 years getting monthly supply of pills, now its weekly!!!

FluffyCat,
Glad i brought this topic up!!
Im 5 years total going to the same chemist so will stick with them, thanks for clarifying that, i hated the thought of filling out claim forms every month to get cash back!

LisaO,
thanks very much for getting bacl to me, am glad to hear that all i pay is the tenner per month.

LisaO

Just remember to stick to same chemist & there shouldn't be any problems.

squeky

Thanks a million LisaO for your help

Kurtosis

Worth keeping in mind squeky, because of the short notice that the HSE gave for introducing these charges, some of the companies who produce the software for pharmacy computers may not have updated the programs to include the €10 cap yet, so no harm in mentioning it to the staff in your pharmacy the second week you're in that you've already paid a fiver for the month.

squeky

penguin88,

thanks for that advice, tomorrow when i collect my pills it will be my 3rd week of my monthly perscription, so last week the chemist girl told me that when my perscription card is renewed again that i will then have to start paying the 50 cent per item, but tomorrow i will be asking her "do i just pay her the €10 capped amount per month" so hopefully she will say yes:)

She never claryfied anything to me last week about what i would end up paying per month, she just told me about the charges coming into effect
I didint know about the €10 cap per month, but now i do so i will be saying that to her tomorrow..

Kristopherus

Just be aware that the max of €10 applies per calender month, similar to how the Drugs Refund Scheme operates.

kangaroo

One thing I read recently was that prescriptions got with the long-term illness card are excluded from the levy.

squeky

Just an update, i went in to my local chemist and asked her about the levy, she told me that i have 15 items listed on my pescription card so i just pay her €7.50 TOTAL PER MONTH,

I had thought i pay her something every week per item as i get a weekly supply of medication, as my above post but she said no i just pay .50 cent for every item on my perscription card and thats it,

rugbug86

That's strange. Well it's great, but will it work for inhalers?

Example. Hypothetical situation - I get my inhaler which lasts 30 days on the 1st of October and pay €0.50. On the 27th October I go back into the chemist and get a second one, as I'm going on holidays on the 29th and need to bring my inhaler with me, and my current one will be empty.

Or another hypothetical situation - the chemist I go to doesn't open late nights so is closed when I get home from work, so I normally go on a Saturday morning. I'm not going to be around the weekend I'd normally go, so I go early, or I manage to get home in time before it closes one night and am passing so I pop in to collect my script.

Will I be required to pay again?

For the record I do not mind a single bit paying for my medication. For my "regular" medication it will cost me €1.50 - which is a *lot* less than the €120 on the DPS.

FluffyCat

AFAIK for every item you get you pay 50c

Regardless to if you go on holiday or not, or loose drugs or anything. The way it is the pharmacy get 50c less for every item it dispenses like it still needs a script for every item you recieve.
It doesnt matter if you go on the 1st and 31st of the month, you pay 50c each time unless ou reach the 10 euro limit

For any problems you have to get a refund from HSE.

But I think you are right, I wouldnt complain about paying 50c per item!!

anotherlostie

Pharmacists told today that "Any pharmacist who fails to collect this levy in accordance with this legislation may be subject to disciplinary process under Part 6 of the Pharmacy Act 2007"

What it doesn't clarify is what happens if the altruistic pharmacist decided to pay the charge for patients in very dire straits (and this somehow became known), so I'm not sure if this is to let the conscientious objectors to tax collection know their position, or if it's more than that.

FluffyCat

anotherlostie wrote: »

Pharmacists told today that "Any pharmacist who fails to collect this levy in accordance with this legislation may be subject to disciplinary process under Part 6 of the Pharmacy Act 2007"

What it doesn't clarify is what happens if the altruistic pharmacist decided to pay the charge for patients in very dire straits (and this somehow became known), so I'm not sure if this is to let the conscientious objectors to tax collection know their position, or if it's more than that.

I wouldnt say this law would be enforced. I mean how many homeless people etc are going to pay? Sure wouldnt it be up to the pharmacist to collect the money or not?
AFAIK the 50c is docked from the pharmacy, the pharmacy doesnt sent the money to the HSE.

XxMCRxBabyxX

Out of curiosity is this only for those with a medical card or for everyone? Thanks

FluffyCat

XxMCRxBabyxX wrote: »

Out of curiosity is this only for those with a medical card or for everyone? Thanks

Its only for the medical card at the mo.

Id say it will be brought in for LTI before long. I mean MC shouldnt be isolated for payment. Drug waste, which is what the 50c is trying to ease, is just as bad in the other schemes.