Drugs included in the Medical card Scheme

[justasking2]

Hi, Can any one advise me as to if, Insulin is totally free on the Medical card Scheme. I know people who do not have a medical card and they get their Insulin for free, but on the medical card you pay the €1.50 fee. Just asking due to the cap in 10 items per month. Many thanks

 

[gipimann]

Drugs supplied under the medical card scheme are free - what is paid is a prescription charge. It appears from the site linked below that the only exception to the charge is for prescriptions for Methadone, supplied under the Methadone Treatment Protocol.

Persons who do not have a medical card can get drugs for specified medical conditions free of charge under the Long Term Illness scheme - Diabetes is listed as one of the medical conditions.

The prescription charge which was introduced for medical card holders was not extended to items supplied under the Long Term Illness Scheme.

A person with a medical card might be able to apply for a Long Term Illness book (the HSE website isn't clear on it) - there would have been no need to have both up to now, but with the prescription charge, it would make sense to have both if a person is eligible.

More information on Long Term Illness Scheme here: [broken link removed]

More information on the Medical Card Prescription Charges here:

 

[justasking2]

Thanks for the Info. Was I wrong in thinking that you are only allowed 10 items per month ? I see there is a cap of €19.50 per family, but nothing about the item amount ?

 

[gipimann]

I don't recall seeing or hearing anything about 10 items per month - is there a maximum number of items that can be included on any single prescription?

 

[vandriver]

The €19.50 refers to the maximum charge for a family for a month.
All info here:
[broken link removed]

 

[Time]

A person with a medical card might be able to apply for a Long Term Illness book (the HSE website isn't clear on it) - there would have been no need to have both up to now, but with the prescription charge, it would make sense to have both if a person is eligible.

The HSE will not play ball.

My wife is a diabetic and had a long term illness book. We then got a medical card. When the LTIB expired the HSE refused to renew on the grounds of having a medical card. There was no prescription charge at this stage so it meant nothing to us.

Another friend of ours also recently was refused a new book for the same reasons.