The Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has recently revealed that he plans on introducing new proposals that will see prescription charges being significantly lowered.
Mr Varadkar made the announcement recently at the MacGill Summer School after saying he believes that the current charges are unrealistically high. The Health Minister revealed his proposal after he outlined his plans on ways to overhaul the health service under the next Government. Under his new proposals Mr Varadkar plans on introducing Free GP Care for people under the age of 18 along with refunded GP and dentist visits.
Mr Varadkar has already said that he is currently in discussions regarding a new contract to purchase medicines. The Health minister said: “It’s €144 per month per household and that is very iniquitous, particularly on single-person households where the €144 has to be borne by that one person.” “We also have a prescription fee of €2.50 which I think is too high.”
He added: “I saw the sense in the 50c one, but €2.50 has got to a point where it’s putting some people off filling up their prescriptions at all, which is a major worry of mine.”