Will the Ministry of Health manage to eradicate the deficit in the medicine budget?

According to the report prepared by the Ministry of Health for the government, in 2024 the deficit could exceed 60 million euros, and for now there is no hope that all the necessary money will be allocated, because, as the report says, “the possibilities to allocate additional financial resources in the coming years will be limited and all sectoral ministries new priorities will be called upon to provide by reviewing the already allocated funding and conducting a review of the base expenses”.

Deficit year after year

Funding for the compensation of expenses for the purchase of medicines intended for outpatient treatment has increased every year from 2018 to 2024, and the funding planned for the beginning of the year in accordance with the current year’s law on the state budget for the payment of reimbursed medicines in 2024 has increased by 69 percent compared to the beginning of 2018. explains the Ministry of Health. Taking into account the indicative forecast after the actual use of funding for the payment of reimbursable medicines in the first two months of 2024, the amount of funding actually required at the end of 2024 will increase by another six percent compared to the end of 2023. The actual expenses for the compensation of the purchase expenses of drugs and medical devices intended for outpatient treatment increase every year under the influence of various factors.

The data show that at the beginning of 2023, the allocated funding for reimbursable medicines was 219 million euros, but at the end of the year, after the additional allocated funds, it reached 269 million euros. However, in 2024, only 221.4 million euros were initially allocated, which is less than what was actually needed in 2023. Indicatively, according to experts of the Ministry of Health, the funding will reach 286 million euros at the end of the year.

Are drug prices rising?

As one of the reasons for not having enough money to pay for medicines, the Ministry of Health cites the increase in the average price of one prescription, which increased from 32.13 to 33.84 euros, or five percent, in January of this year compared to December 2023. The number of unique patients provided with reimbursed medications is also increasing. On the other hand, the average cost of one unique patient has increased by 47.8 percent (average cost of one patient in 2019 is 240.73 euros, average cost of one patient in 2023 is 355.89 euros).

Evaluating the use of funding by diagnostic groups, the largest amount of costs remains unchanged in oncology, cardiovascular diseases and endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases. In 2019, expenses in the compensation system for the purchase of drugs for these disease groups accounted for 52.5 percent of the total amount of state budget funds, and in 2023, they will account for 56.6 percent. The fastest growth is observed in oncology, where, as emphasized by the Ministry of Health, innovative therapy is also paid for, which allows to adjust the treatment for each patient individually, which is cost-effective, but at the same time it is a very expensive therapy, where clinical effectiveness results in an increase in costs and financial resources.

The report says that expenses for rare diseases increase along with the number of patients, however “Neatkasirīga” wrote that patients with rare diseases have just criticized the report of the Ministry of Health, which contains inaccurate data on rare diseases and – what is even sadder – does not foresee additional funding this year for the treatment of rare diseases.

Will 15 million be equal?

The Ministry of Health aims to cover the shortfall in the cost of reimbursable medicines by 2024 to ensure that there are no interruptions in the treatment of patients. The report indicates that EUR 15.9 million is currently needed to partially cover the deficit. According to the estimates of the Ministry of Health, this money will make it possible to ensure the availability of compensable medicines for 99,236 patients.

Of course, this money will not be enough, because there is still a deficit of financial resources for the payment of compensable medicines and materials, which, according to the Ministry’s data, is forecast at 17,433,251 euros at the end of 2024, and 49.7 million euros at the end of 2025. The Ministry of Health has planned to evaluate the actual implementation in all its programs and to direct the unearned money to cover the 2024 deficit of compensable medicines. But to cover the deficit in the coming years, the Ministry of Health will submit an application as priority measures.

INQUIRY
FUNDING FOR COMPENSABLE MEDICINES
Total funding of drugs and medical for outpatient treatment
for the compensation of device purchase expenses 2018-2024. year

Year	Planned financing for the beginning of the year, millions of euros	Funding at the end of the year, millions of euros
2018	130.9	173.8
2019	166.5	181.7
2020	168.7	184.2
2021	171.2	197.2
2022	192.5	223.2
2023	219.5	269.8
2024	221.4	285.9*