Czech patients faced higher level of co-payment for reimbursed drugs in 2009

2010-01-06

In 2009 the level of patient co-payment for reimbursable medicines in the Czech Republic increased in comparison with that of 2008, according to the Czech news agency, CTK. By the end of September 2009, the customers of the state health insurance company, Vseobecna Zdravotna Poistovna (VZP), spent CZK 762m (€29m) in the form of drug co-payments. This constitutes 21.41% of all costs related to health care, which also included prescription charges, doctors’ visits and hospital stays. In 2008, patient co-payments accounted for 18.32% of healthcare costs – more than 3 p.p. less than the 2009 figure.
The Czech Medical Chamber, the doctors’ organisation, believes that the increase in the co-payment level was prompted by increases in the prices of medicines and the disappearance of cheap drugs from the market. The average price of one packet of medicine has been constantly increasing, and the Chamber believes that the obligatory 7% reduction in manufacturer’s prices enforced for some medicines in 2010 might not reverse this trend. This is because the average price increase – which in 2008 came to 17% in comparison with 2007 – greatly exceeds the 2010 reduction. The Chamber believes that – instead of proceeding with the 7% price cut – it would have been better if the Czech State Institute for Drug Control (SUKL) had completed the 2008 drug price revision. This has still not been done.