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PHARMACEUTICALS IN IRELAND are still too expensive, a new report from the ESRI has said.
A range of measures, such as greater use of generic drugs, could be introduced to ensure that both cash-paying patients and taxpayers get better value for their money when it comes to pharmaceutical drugs, the report says.
It suggests that pharmacists should be allowed to dispense pharmaceutical products which are interchangeable with that prescribed by a doctor. At present, the pharmacist has to dispense the brand written on the prescription, which may not be the cheapest option for the consumer.
It also proposes that pharmacies should display dispensing fees, pharmacy services and mark-ups in-store so that patients can compare costs.
A list of recommended generic alternatives for medical professionals should be compiled to increase the amount of generic drugs which are prescribed.
Ireland had among the highest spend per person on pharmaceuticals in OECD countries in 2009.
The report entitled ‘Delivery of Pharmaceuticals in Ireland – Getting a Bigger Bang for the Buck’ notes that healthcare costs rose rapidly in Ireland during the 2000s, even as health budgets now are under pressure. Pharmaceuticals currently make up around 17.5 per cent of public health expenditure, up from 14 per cent in 2000.
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No shit Sherlock !!!
Many doctors are corrupted by the
Medicine industry resulting in doctors prescribing dearer medicine when cheaper alternatives are available.
Laws need to passed to protect consumers!!!!
Rubbish … Doctors don’t get paid more for prescribing more expense medications… If they prescribe one drug over another it’s typically because it has better efficacy or tolerability
To be sure drug companies want doctors and nurses to sell their products but to suggest that doctors are benefitting from prescribing more expense drugs is misjudged
Michael, that’s a retarded suggestion. We already got laws coming out of our ears and they aren’t making things cheaper. Doctors are simply lazy. Very often they know only 1 or 2 of the brand names of a specific drug and once they are use to writing those brand names on the script then they simply keep doing it even when a generic comes out.
The docters do benifit. I worked for years in Medical Materiel and Resource Managment. It is not always in a monitary value but they benifit through marketing gifts. Look at all the name brand products you see on the Doctors desk, ie a GSK mug and note pads Phzr embossed stethiscopes. Bayer desk calenders. We would get massive tins of cakes and popcorn, wine baskets, tickets to shows and sports events, you name it. If you can’t see it your eyes are closed.
@cavanbythesea no Doctors don’t get paid more to prescribe certain medicines but they are courted by sales reps.
Doctors tend to prescribe a drug because they don’t know about generic alternatives. Doctors don’t really know about drugs & the interactions. Pharmacists do…
Just a simple example.. A basic asthma Inhaler around €10 here recently bought in northern Ireland for £3 . Exactely the same product. How can that be explained ?
I’m a drugs manufacturer X. I approach the Irish state and tell them that I will build a factory here that will create xxxxx # of jobs. But I will only do this under certain conditions i.e. only I shall receive a licence to distribute drugs X, Y and Z. Simples!
When I lived in Spain I used to bring drugs I could buy OTC there back home. A lot of them made in Ireland, yet approximately 4 times cheaper.
Something wrong there. Our VAT rate not that bad!
Greed is the problem. Too much money being made by greedy people. Many businesses here still think that damn Celtic Tiger is still about. Their answer when challenged is similar to that by publicans – “costs”.
Declan, It’s not the greed of the small business. It’s greedy politicians protecting greedy monster companies. But at the end of the day, the big, greedy pharma would not be able to do any of this if the politicians didn’t have to power to “protect” them. The final parasite who is ultimately responsible for this is the state. With all the uber regulation it is nearly impossible for anyone to compete with the big dogs, because only they can afford the lobbying and compliance costs. Want more government and more regulation? The result will be even higher prices.
Gotcha, Dave McC.
2 options: either doctors prescribe generic in the script or pharmacists offer generics at point of sale….
I’d imagine that hospital pharmacies would only stock generics …
Community Pharmacists in Australia are obliged to ask customers if they are happy with ‘generic’….
In fairness to some chemists, some do ask if u want the cheaper alternative. I was in a chemist yest looking for a particular thing & straight away your one offered me a cheaper alternative. She said it has the same ingredients as the established version. Save me E2. It is a good idea for a price list to be displayed so you can make “an informed choice”.
No bargains in a pharmacy.
Esri = 3.75% growth every year Esri = bearded overpaid Moore Mc dowell school of economics lackeys
I’m sure the phamacists will trot out all sorts of excuses / rent / wages / VAT / cost base and I’m sure a lot of it is justified but they are in a position to charge what they like and even though price fixing is illegal there will be a bizarre similarly in price in all pharmacies… But most importantly is the state being ripped off to the same degree for all the medications prescribed for medical cards and refunds
Neil – look at Dave MCarthy’s posts – he is correct. Perhaps if pharmacies displayed a break down of:
- cost
- dispensing fee
- vat
on the receipt then people may understand. Its very easy to point and blame and say that the point of sale is far to expensive without looking at the suppliers / manufactures.
No sh*t? Are you for real? Maybe if the retarded state didn’t regulate the dick out of the industry and didn’t protect certain companies and their products from competition then the prices would drop.
Its a travesty!!
How on Earth do you expect big Pharma ,along with Big Oil, Big Food and Big Arms manufacturers, to control, blackmail and bribe politicians and Government around the world if they have to make their goods cheaper.
Cor blimey! You will be wanting a return to Democracy next!
And to all the uninformed idiots out there – a pharmacy MUST dispense the brand prescribed by the doctor and technically speaking is not allowed to dispense a generic instead. And this has nothing to do with the pharmacy’s greed and everything to do with such bureaucratic parasite organizations as the PSI (pharmaceutical society of Ireland). Bureaucracy is what is making it more expensive not greed. And have any of you statist geniuses asked why it is that a shop can buy beer from, say, Estonia but a pharmacy is not allowed to buy there, say, cheaper paracetamol? Can you grasp that all this has to do with your nanny state and endless licencing?
Isn’t it about time the minister for health grew a pair and sorted it out to everyones benefit except those vested interests as described before
Come on, that can’t be done. The additional costs on the drugs are hidden and the sheep don’t know the details, however, the jobs that the corrupt pharmaceutical industry creates are out in the open. So, if you were a politician, say, the minister for jobs, what do you think is easier to sell to the sheep, increased drug costs that they can’t pinpoint or the “new jobs” that are out in the open? Politics is always about the cheapest, fastest, easiest way to get the sheep to vote for you. The sheep don’t like things like economics, they like simple, easy to see, easy to digest banners.
Can anybody explain why our prescription drugs cost 30 per cent cheaper in Spain when compared to Ireland?
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