Delayed revision of drug prices to result in fewer prescription fees

Many more medicines will be available without prescription fees once revisions to insurance compensation take effect on May 1. The director of the State Institute for Drug Control, Martin Beneš, told reporters on Monday that the revisions, combined with similar changes made at the beginning of April, would save insurance companies roughly three billion crowns. He said they would also provide modern medicines for more patients and more medicines that patients will not have to pay for. Each year 70-80 billion crowns worth of medicines are purchased in the Czech Republic, roughly half of which is covered by insurance companies. The State Drug Control Institute was originally to effect the current revision in 2008; the Czech Doctors Chamber has sharply criticised the delay, saying it has caused damages of ten billion crowns.