Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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660. To ask the Minister for Health the estimated cost of reducing the threshold of the drugs payment scheme to a maximum of €72 per patient per month; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29361/23]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Drug Payment Scheme (DPS) provides for the refund of the amount by which expenditure on approved prescribed medicines or medical and surgical appliances exceeds a named threshold in any calendar month. The DPS is not means tested and is available to anyone ordinarily resident in Ireland.

The DPS threshold was reduced twice in 2022:

From €114 to €100 per month on 1 January 2022.

From €100 to €80 per month on 1 March 2022.

Therefore, currently, under the DPS, no individual pays more than €80 a month towards the cost of approved prescribed medicines. The DPS significantly reduces the cost burden for people with ongoing expenditure on medicines.

The estimated minimum cost of reducing the DPS threshold to €72 per month is €13.2 million per annum.