[Discussion] "EU rules" is almost always a national question wearing a European hat
"EU rules" is almost always a national question wearing a European hat. I have gone back and forth on this for months.
The structure that makes this board make sense, once.
Marketing authorisation for these products is granted centrally, which is why the same product exists across the union. Everything after that — whether it is reimbursed, on what criteria, at what price, in what pack size, dispensed under what margin rules — is decided nationally.
So "is it covered" has twenty-seven answers, "what does it cost" has twenty-seven answers plus within-country variation, and only "is it authorised" has one. Almost every argument on this board is two people answering different questions from different countries, both correctly.
Kept the prescription and the receipt for a claim, purely because a thread here told me to. Both were requested.
The translation cost of dealing with a foreign pharmacy was the thing I had not budgeted for.
That is everything I have. The rest is opinion and I have tried to keep it out.
best — the order this archive was captured in
How to compare prices across borders without misleading yourself.
Normalise the pack size first. Presentations differ between member states and a headline figure for one pack is not comparable to another. Then separate reimbursed from private prices, which are set by entirely different mechanisms. Then note the dispensing fee structure, which is nationally regulated.
When members here have done all three, the interesting finding has consistently been that variation between pharmacies within a country is often as large as the variation between countries — which makes the cross-border shopping most of these threads are really about far less attractive than it looks.
On cross-border prescriptions, since the assumption behind half these threads is wrong.
There are EU rules on the recognition of prescriptions issued in another member state, and they are conditional: the prescription has to meet requirements about its form and content, certain categories are excluded, and pharmacies retain discretion in practice.
The result is that "my prescription will be accepted anywhere in the EU" is not a safe assumption, and members here have discovered it at a counter in another country. If it matters for a trip, check before you travel with the pharmacy and with somebody qualified where you are. Nothing on this board is advice about that, and the rules are national in their application whatever the framework says.
reimbursement is national, not European, and that is the whole board
say which country or the thread is useless
A supply notice in one member state made the front page here and had no effect at all where I am.
ask for the Beipackzettel or the local equivalent, it answers most questions
pharmacy margins are regulated differently in each country
Assumed a prescription would be honoured across the border. It was not, and the rules are clear once you actually read them.
What does the local patient information leaflet say?
EU-wide advice is almost always wrong somewhere
EU-wide advice is almost always wrong somewhere
This is the split the whole board depends on. Authorisation is European; payment is national.
Pharmacy margins and dispensing fees are regulated nationally, which explains price differences that otherwise look arbitrary.
Pharmacy margins and dispensing fees are regulated nationally, which explains price differences that otherwise look arbitrary.
Adding the practical step — read your own country’s published criteria. They exist and they are definitive.
a shortage in one member state is not a shortage in all of them
a shortage in one member state is not a shortage in all of them
Disagreeing with this bit: that criterion belongs to one member state and is being quoted as general.
Agreed that pharmacy margin regulation explains a lot of the price differences people find mysterious.
This. The published reimbursement criteria are the document to read, and most member states do publish them.
private pricing varies enormously between neighbouring countries
- 1ask for the Beipackzettel or the local equivalent, it answers most questions7 comments in this branch · started by u/nl_verzekering
- 2Pharmacy margins and dispensing fees are regulated nationally, which…7 comments in this branch · started by u/solene_ilunga