Canadians have long envied the United Kingdom's national pharmaceutical program, which covers about 95% of all drugs — all but a notorious “black list” of about 3000 drugs — and typically leaves patients on the hook only for dispensing fees.
That envy just got greener as Northern Ireland joined Wales and Scotland in announcing that it will abolish dispensing fees for prescription drugs, effective April 2010. In the interim, dispensing fees were reduced to £3 from £7 (to $5.57 from $13) as of Jan. 2.
“A cradle-to-grave health service, free at the point of delivery, is the founding principle of the NHS [National Health Service], which was founded 60 years ago this year. It is a principle that I, and the entire population of Northern Ireland, wholeheartedly support,” Northern Ireland Health Minister Michael McGimpsey told reporters while announcing the policy change.
The move follows in the footsteps of Wales, which last year abolished all dispensing fees, while Scotland has indicated that it plans to follow suit in the next few years. England plans to remove dispensing fees only for cancer drugs.
The National Health Service, established in 1946, provides free health care to all UK residents. In 1952, legislative amendments allowed for charges to be made to prescriptions at the time of dispensing. The cost has risen from 20 pence (about 22 cents) in 1979 to just under £7 today.
Critics, such as Ulster Unionist Party member Robert Coulter, have charged that dispensing fees prevent many from getting the prescription medication they need to manage their illnesses, particularly cancer.
Canadian Pharmacists Association Executive Director Jeff Poston says dispensing fees vary by province. No government has moved to absorb such fees on the part of all its residents, although some pick them up for select groups, he adds. For example, Quebec guarantees free prescriptions for elderly persons receiving social assistance, welfare recipients and children. Most other provinces subsidize at least a measure of prescription costs faced by their elderly.