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Medicines can be very expensive. An unexpected large cash outlay, could
put some families under an extra financial burden.
Two schemes currently
exist for those who must pay for their medicines- Drugs Payment
Scheme and the MED-1 tax scheme.
1.
Drugs Payment Scheme (DPS)
With the Drugs Payment Scheme (DPS) no family should pay more than
€90 (as updated on 1 January 2008) for approved, prescribed medicines or
appliances used in one calendar month.
The family includes all children up
to the age of 23 years in full time education. In addition, a dependent with a
physical or mental disability/illness living in the household who does not have
a Medical Card and who is unable to fully maintain himself/herself, may be included
in the family expenditure regardless of age. In practice, this means that
the pharmacy will charge a family or individual for their medicines, until it
comes to a cut-off point of €90, after which they do not pay any more.
It is intended that all pharmacies will be linked to a central database, where
all purchases in any pharmacy in the State will be recorded. Until that
time, families or individuals using the same pharmacy for all of their prescriptions
dispensed in the one month, pay €90 to that pharmacy. To facilitate family
members who used different pharmacies within the one month, when medicines are
obtained from more than one pharmacy totalling in excess of €90, the balance
can be reclaimed from the local health board. Families or individuals can
register to join the scheme by using their PPS (RSI) numbers and child benefit
number (which is found on the children's allowance book). All members of a family
are issued with individual DPS swipecards, which should be presented at any pharmacy,
when obtaining your prescription. Remember, these cards have expiry dates and
should be renewed. You may obtain a form directly from your local health board
or at any pharmacy. Alternatively, you may register here at eirpharm.com
and we will prepare your application to join the Drugs Payment Scheme.
You
can e-mail the form below, directly to us, or alternatively you can print details
and forward them to us and we will prepare a DPS application form for you to sign. Please
note that the cut-off of €90 is subject to change by the Irish government.
Before your application form can be processed
by your local health board, it must be signed in-person. Remember to nominate
on the form below the pharmacy that would be the most convenient for you to sign
the completed application form. The completed form will then be forwarded to your
local health board and each member of your family will be issued with a DPS card.
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