There was some good news this morning for people with multiple sclerosis who are set to receive a windfall of €100 from the HSE. Patients, who would ordinarily qualify for free medication under the Long Term Illness Scheme (LTIS) and also held a medical card, were obliged to pay the associated prescription charges which have risen from 50c to €2.50 in recent years.
Anyone with one of the sixteen listed conditions on the LTIS, which includes MS, can from now on look forward to saving €25 a month in prescription charges.
"The main reason for this was that when a retail mark-up of 20pc was payable to pharmacists for items supplied under the Long Term Illness Scheme, it cost the HSE considerably more to supply medicines under this scheme than under the medical card scheme," explained Junior Health Minister Alex White during a parliamentary reply to Fianna Fáil TD Willie O’Dea.
The HSE is now in the process of identifying any person who lost out as a result of the dual-payment system and is expecting that everyone affected will be refunded in full by the end of June.
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