Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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851. To ask the Minister for Health the cost of reducing the drugs payment scheme threshold to €100 per month; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10343/16]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the HSE that, based on January 2016 dispensing data for the Drugs Payment Scheme (DPS), the estimated cost of reducing the DPS threshold to €100 per month is approximately €22 million per annum.

However, this estimate is likely to be understated, as the HSE does not collect information on people who do not claim under the DPS because their monthly expenditure on drugs is below €144.

This is a matter which I intend to consider in the context of the implementation of the health commitments in the Programme for Partnership Government and having regard to the funding available to facilitate such measures. Detailed financial analysis will be required in order to establish as accurately as possible the expected costs to the Exchequer.