Free prescriptions for low‐income pensioners? The cost of returning to free‐of‐charge drugs in the Spanish National Health Service

Jaume Puig-Junoy and Jaime Pinilla, Professors of the Master in Health Economics and Pharmacoeconomics, have recently published an article in the high-impact magazine "Health Economics" (Q1).

The article is titled "Free prescriptions for low-income pensioners? The cost of returning to free-of‐charge drugs in the Spanish National Health Service" and the abstract is available at the following link.

The study estimates the impact of reducing the copayment rate to zero for medicines for low‐income pensioners and disabled individuals in the Valencian Community (Spain). This reduction was implemented in January 2016 and the impact has been estimated in significant general increases of 6.34% and 6.70% [depending on the method] in the number of prescriptions dispensed in this region.