The Progressive Democrats have put forward a radical new plan which, it is claimed, may save the State up to €30 million a year on the cost of prescription medicines.
Junior Health Minister Mr Tim O'Malley TD has proposed that only cheaper, generic drugs should be reimbursed under the Drug Payment Scheme (DPS).
Under the proposal presented to the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, yesterday, if a generic drug is not available to an individual, then the next-cheapest drug would be prescribed. If a patient insists on a more expensive option or a GP chooses to prescribe a more costly drug, then patients would have to pay for it themselves.
Under the current DPS system, no individual or family is required to pay over €65 per month on prescription medicines. However, this level is to be raised in the Budget next month, due to the increased cost of the scheme in recent years.
The PDs claim that, under their proposal, the State's expenditure under the DPS would be cut, eliminating the need for increasing the threshold in the Budget.
A spokesman for the Minister last night said Mr Martin would consider the plan but added that the projected savings arising from the proposal were still unclear.
Meanwhile, the Irish Pharmaceutical Union last night described as a "frank exchange of views" a meeting with Mr Martin yesterday on the deregulation of the pharmaceutical sector.
The IPU president, Mr Richard Collis, said following the meeting and daylong briefing session with TDs yesterday that he was confident the issues surrounding deregulation "have been hammered home".
Yesterday's meetings took place ahead of the publication of a major report on the sector, expected in the new year from the Pharmacy Review Group.
When the review group was midway through reviewing the rules governing pharmacies, Mr Martin had announced that the sector would be deregulated.
Regulations introduced in 1996 restricted the freedom to set up new pharmacies. A health board could refuse permission for a pharmacy if it believed the viability of an existing pharmacy would be endangered. The IPU claims that the restriction prevented big chains from taking over the retail pharmacy sector.
It claims that, if the industry was deregulated, ownership of pharmacies would switch from pharmacists to multinational chains. The IPU believed the bigger chains would not offer the same advice-driven service to customers.
