Drugs Payment Scheme. One card/two people.

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Grizzly

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Both my wife and I are registered for the Drugs Payment scheme for many years. I don't think that we have ever made use of it, thankfully.

Our cards/account were due to expire this month so we applied for these to be renewed.

I noticed that when the new cards arrived both cards are using my wife's PRSI number and the letters A & B on each respective card.

Is there a benefit or otherwise in not having a separate card in my own name and using my own PRSI number or does it make any difference ?

Thanks
 
The DPS limits the costs per household , so the card is under your wife’s PRSI number probably because she applied. All the cards in my family are under my PRSI number as we are one household .
So yes , it means you will only pay a max of €80 between you
 
Thanks. I called in to my local chemist Pure Pharmacy and I noticed that I was not given one of the two part forms that normally accompanies my purchase, and has been given to me for years in respect of the Drugs refund scheme. It was always automatic.

I was told by Pure Pharmacy that the HSE is trying to do away with the issue of these forms per prescription and in their place they were encouraging people to get one print out per year from the chemist and then make an annual claim. I was never told this information and had to ask Pure Pharmacy.

Has anyone else heard this?
 
odyssey06 said:
My local McCabes also does this, one receipt at end of year.
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I am trying to figure out how this works in practice.

Normally when you spend over €80 per month on prescriptions, you make a claim monthly and get a refund over the €80 spent.

Is it an actual calendar month such as January, February, May etc. or is it €80 spent in any 30 days? Because we have spent €60 in April and €60 in May but never made any claim because they were two separate months. Even a spend on the last few days in April and a spend on the first few days in May, would these qualify?

If you claim at the end of the year how does it work?

Do you get a total spend over the year, let's say €1400 and they minus off 12 x €80 = €960 and you are refunded the difference.

Do they check to see that you spent over €80 in each month........so they will discard the months you spent below the €80 and only refund you the months you spent over the €80?
 
Grizzly said:
Is it an actual calendar month such as January, February, May etc
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Yes.
www2.hse.ie

Refunds

If you paid more than €80 for prescribed drugs or appliances in more than one pharmacy, you may be entitled to a refund. Find out more from HSE.ie.
www2.hse.ie www2.hse.ie
You can claim a refund if you or your family paid more than €80 in a calendar month for:
  • ...
  • ...
Click to expand...
 
Grizzly said:
Normally when you spend over €80 per month on prescriptions, you make a claim monthly and get a refund over the €80 spent.
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We are registered in the pharmacy for DPS so never have to spend more than the €80 in the calendar month.
They account for it, and any items > €80 under DPS are free.

I do the health expense claim in January of following year so the all in one receipt is ok for my purposes.

It would be awkward for someone claiming health expenses as they go on Revenue site.
 
odyssey06 said:
We are registered in the pharmacy for DPS so never have to spend more than the €80 in the calendar month.
They account for it, and any items > €80 under DPS are free.
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It appears that myself and my wife have not be playing the game properly. I see now that this requires careful planning every month?

Load up on your creams, tablets, etc. in one month rather than spread them out over several months as we have been doing.

No wonder my pharmacy was asking me how many months supply do I want. It never occurred to me to front load my purchases.

It also works if you can arrange to get sick at the beginning of the month and not at the end of the month so you can squeeze all your medications in to the one calendar month.

Last year my wife had eye problems and needed expensive eye drops that spanned November and December. If they were all purchased in the same month we would have received a refund.....
 
WaterWater said:
Last year my wife had eye problems and needed expensive eye drops that spanned November and December. If they were all purchased in the same month we would have received a refund.....
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You can't double up like that as far as I know. If it is under DPS then each one is allocated to a calendar month, actually I'm not sure if they'd even dispense multiples if it is DPS rather than a private prescription.
 
There should be a lower threshold for single people pro rata as discriminatory. Also wonder why (unless you pay privately) prescriptions dispenced monthly? Would it not be cheaper to dispense 3 monthly or 6 montlhly? Less pharmacist time, less travel and more cost-effective for everyone including Exchequer? I would wonder who’s interest is being met here? Certainly not the patient.
 
Grizzly said:
Thanks. I called in to my local chemist Pure Pharmacy and I noticed that I was not given one of the two part forms that normally accompanies my purchase, and has been given to me for years in respect of the Drugs refund scheme. It was always automatic.

I was told by Pure Pharmacy that the HSE is trying to do away with the issue of these forms per prescription and in their place they were encouraging people to get one print out per year from the chemist and then make an annual claim. I was never told this information and had to ask Pure Pharmacy.
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I would have thought that your pharmacy would at least have told you that they were no longer giving out the two part form for the Drugs Payment Scheme with your prescription as proof of purchase/claim.

How do you make a claim on a once off monthly claim without these forms? Do you now have to wait a year before you can make a claim?

If a person is on a monthly supply of drugs and purchases their €120 regular supply, then they are on the system, and they just pay their €80 per month and collect their supply. However if you only do this occasionally, how do you make a claim without proof of purchase and when do you make your claim?
 
WaterWater said:
How do you make a claim on a once off monthly claim without these forms? Do you now have to wait a year before you can make a claim?
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If you stick with the same pharmacy there is no need to make a claim at all, they will have it all on record and won't pay more than the €80.
 
WaterWater said:
How do you make a claim on a once off monthly claim without these forms? Do you now have to wait a year before you can make a claim?
Click to expand...
I don’t know about the others, but Pure, since late last year, do not routinely give the old two page Prescription Claim Form, for claiming refunds on the DPS scheme. Pure will give the newer 1 page Prescription Claim Form on request only. It is a single A4 page that has all the same information. I think Pure would prefer to give this annually but if you request it each time you get a prescription filled, they will give it each time.

For those who for various reasons have to make a claim, you use these new forms to claim for whatever number of months suits you in the usual way. You do not have to wait a year to put in a claim.
 
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