justsally said:
Hello HennyPenny,
This was brought home to me when I noticed that my chemist only supplied one month's medication on a two months prescription. His words were "it would not be worth my while dispensing them like that" - he wanted his monthly dispensing charge. It's my opinion that doctors are facilitating the pharmacists.
Justsally
I would have thought that the pharmacist was obliged to prescribe whatever was on the prescription (unless of course the doctor had made an error in dosages etc that would be dangerous). If you asked for the 2 months as prescribed, he has no right to refuse you.
I never realised that dispensing charges were so high - 5 euro seems like a lot for one month when you consider that they are already getting a considerable mark-up on the price of the drugs.
See this article re pharmacy charges - from the Irish Times - subscription not needed
[broken link removed]
The key is to shop around and discuss your prescription with your Doctor. He/she may not actually be aware of the structure of pharmacy charges and will try and facilitate whatever way you want your drugs prescribed. Also, make sure you ask for generic prescriptions and you can ask the pharmacy to give you the cheapest versions of the drugs.
For a common drug like Losec (a anti-ulcer drug) for example, the cost of the original, brand-name drug, is approx 40% higher than its newer rivals which work exactly the same way. I know that a lot of doctors prescribe losec as they are familiar with it (and because a lot of them thought it was the cheapest because it ws around the longest). Spend a couple of minutes discussing these issues with your doctor and you could save a lot of money in the long run.
I think some of the problem is that there isn't really a culture of cost conciousness among Irish doctors. In training, you get into the habit of just treating patients with whatever they need regardless of what it costs - you never have to see the hospital bill, or prescription charge, or the cost of that MRI so you don't tend to think about it. Contrast that with the American system where doctors have to constantly justify their treatments in terms of price. I honestly don't believe that there is 'collusion' between doctors and pharmacists in most cases and that a frank discussion with the doctor might be the best way to resolve these issues