A new procedure for selling medicines has entered into force: some patients receive them for free



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“According to the latest information, the system worked because all pharmacies made every effort, worked at night, on weekends, and managed to dispense medication to patients who should receive it for free,” Kristina Nemaniūtė-Gagė told BNS, President of the Lithuanian Pharmacy Association.

According to her, although the significant increase in flows did not occur after the introduction of the new order compared to the usual day of the week, a little more people went to pharmacies.

“There were people over the age of 75 waiting for that date to buy it for free,” said the head of the pharmacy association.

According to K. Nemaniūtė-Gagė, the only problem that arose was that pharmacies were unable to submit prescriptions to pay for Health Insurance Funds on Wednesday, but promised to resolve this problem quickly.

“In any case, patients don’t care, they get free medication when they go to the pharmacy,” he said.

The president of the Lithuanian Union of People with Disabilities, Rasa Kavaliauskaitė, also said that the disabled, who received drugs without discounts under the new procedure, could buy them without problems.

“It just caught our eye then. Those who earn a very low income said perfectly: if a person paid an additional 130 (euros) last month, they say, today I was – one zero,” he said.

However, according to the representative for the disabled, this procedure should be expanded to include the possibility of reimbursing medicines for people with slightly higher incomes.

Under amendments to the Health Insurance Act, which went into effect on Wednesday, low-income retirees and people with disabilities, as well as all adults over the age of 75, are no longer required to pay drug premiums refundable.

Retirees and the disabled will receive free reimbursable medications if their total income is less than 95%. The size of last year’s minimum consumption needs.

According to the Ministry of Social Security and Labor, it would now add € 238.45.

People age 75 and older will receive these medications for free, regardless of income.

According to the Ministry of Health, the innovation will affect about 250 thousand. people in Lithuania.

The minister said the state will have to allocate around 3.7 million by the end of the year. euros

The Lithuanian Pharmacy Association has previously expressed concern that there may be difficulties in purchasing medicines due to the delay in the implementation of information technology solutions and the lack of information from pharmacies on whether the patient is entitled to compensation. Premium, so there is concern that the drugs are not dispensed free of charge.

The possibility of problems in the first days of July was recognized by the Minister of Health Aurelijus Veryga.

“It took a little longer than planned to implement the information technology solutions planned by the Records Center and we have some information that not all pharmacies were able to harmonize their systems from the first day of July, there may be some difficulties, they will hopefully last longer. It will be removed in a week, “the minister said earlier.

Diana Vilytė, Director of Service Management of the Registry Center responsible for the implementation of the system, stated that such situation arose because the law provided too short deadlines for the implementation of the system.



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