Czech health insurance companies to spend more on Rx drugs due to VAT increase

2012-01-09



Health insurance companies’ yearly spending on prescription drugs will increase by CZK 1.31bn (€50.8m) due to the VAT increase on medicines from 10% to 14% in 2012, according to the Czech State Institute for Drug Control (SUKL). In case of certain drugs dispensed by pharmacies directly to doctors and healthcare facilities to cover the needs of their patients, health insurance companies will have to increase reimbursement expenditure by CZK 487.3m (€18.8m).
Another 2012 novelty is that health insurance companies will be able to request the SUKL to conduct a reimbursement tender for marketing authorisation holders to offer the lowest price for a given medicinal product, which should increase the availability of medicines in the country and bring their prices down, the agency hopes.