drugs payment scheme/asthma medication

rugbug86

so, where to start... i was diagnosed with asthma about 14 years ago after a spell of bad health - scarlet fever, viral meningitis, pluricy (sp?), rhumatic fever... all in the space of 3 months.

i have asthma with allergic rhinitis (year round hayfever) which was medically controlled with becotide (preventer) and ventolin (reliever).

in november i got a chest infection and was put on clonamox and steroids. same thing in december. went to the doc yesterday expecting the same, but the doc said no. she said my asthma has gotten progressivly worse and put me on stronger inhalers. which is where my problem lies!

the inhaler she gave me, symbicort, i have to use 4 times a day. 120 doses, 2 puffs, 4 times a day. it will last me 2 weeks, or so. so i'll need one every 2 weeks. fine, my health is important. but the inhaler cost €85 a pop.

basically, what are my options? i'm going to go on the drugs payment scheme because the doctor can prescribe my hayfever medication too.

a friend said yesterday that because asthma is a non-curable disease that the government have a system whereby they pay for medication, like with diabetes. does anyone know if this is the case? i didn't think it was because i dont see asthma as a big serious illness. (or i didn't until yesterday - major setback )

only reason that i ask is that i'm a student and the €85 for the DPS is a weeks wages!

also, what other medication is covered under the DPS scheme? i've been on some medication for a while that i havent told people about, would this be covered? also, would people have to find out?

apologies for long post, and non sensical post!

robinph

You don't get the asthma meds for free unfortunately, although I have got away without paying a couple of times due to the pharmacist messing up as they went through all the diabetes stuff that I do get for free.

The_Conductor

rugbug86 wrote:

only reason that i ask is that i'm a student and the €85 for the DPS is a weeks wages!

also, what other medication is covered under the DPS scheme? i've been on some medication for a while that i havent told people about, would this be covered? also, would people have to find out?

All prescription medications, on the current HSE list, are available under the €85 per month DPS scheme. Any medications that are available over the counter- irrespective of their usage, are *not* available under the DPS scheme. In some cases GPs are known to prescribe medications other than those readily available, simply to get them under the DPS scheme.

I do know what you mean about it being expensive- I have not so fond memories of trying to figure which bills to pay- medication or an ESB bill. Unfortunately it is expensive. The manner that some conditions are covered (such as diabetes for example) but not others is entirely arbitary. I was discussing this before with someone in the DoH and was told essentially all it boiled down to was who had better organised pressure groups- nothing else. If enough asthma sufferers, or indeed people with other disabilities or longterm illnesses, were to get together and exert pressure as groups on their politicians- I think you might find that overnight other conditions and ailments suddenly were covered under the longterm illness scheme too.......

iemillst

I too have asthma and my medication (Seretide+Spiriva+Singulair+Combivent) totals over €200 a month so the DPS scheme (and the tax relief) definately helps.

You said that the medication cost of €85 is a weeks wages. If this is the case then you should be eligible for a Medical card. Looking at www.medicalcard.ie it seems to me that if you earn less than €184 a week you qualify. This gives you free access to a doctor and free medication. I had a Medical Card a few years ago after I was laid off. It was hard to get a doctor to take me on with a medical card (it seems they arent keen on people with them) but once I was refused by a few the Health Board assigned me a doctor. Give your local health board a call, I found them very helpfull.

nesf

smccarrick wrote:

All prescription medications, on the current HSE list, are available under the €85 per month DPS scheme. Any medications that are available over the counter- irrespective of their usage, are *not* available under the DPS scheme. In some cases GPs are known to prescribe medications other than those readily available, simply to get them under the DPS scheme.

The above is totally correct. Talk to your doctor about it and see if you can get as much as possible prescribed instead of over the counter. In my experience they are quite reasonable about it, they won't give you a prescription for paracetamol or anything though.



The expense is a problem, but unfortunately you just have to deal with it. €85 a month, every month, is very draining for a student or pretty much anyone tbh, that's a fair chunk of disposable income after rent/mortgage/food etc to be shelling out. I've had a maxed out DPS every month since I was 21 and pretty regularily before then too. The only comfort is that if you go and check how much these drugs actually cost then you'll be very thankful for the DPS. At one point the Government were covering €350 of the bill every month for about a year. Plus all stuff like antibiotics etc that you might get prescribed over a winter won't cost you anything. Which is nice.

jos28

I would definitely try to get yourself a medical card, AFAIK there is a special scheme for students with part time jobs, check with your helth board. Don't forget to claim all your medical expenses from the Revenue Commissioners. Dowload a MED1 from www.revenue.ie and you will get expenses refunded at the standard rate.

Zaph

Unfortunately the government's attitude to asthma sufferers is pretty poor. I'm 39 and have been asthmatic since I was 4, however when I checked with the Dept. of Health and/or EHB some years ago about getting free medication or a medical card, I was told that I was not eligible as asthma is "not a long-term illness". This may would have been when I was in my mid-20s I reckon, so 20+ years wasn't considered long term, and I somehow doubt that now 35 years is long term enough for them either. Of course the reason for this is purely financial. Asthma rates have risen massively over the last 30 years and it would cost them a fortune if every asthmatic was suddenly entitled to free medication.

There's an election coming up folks, and there'll be a lot of people calling at your doors in the coming months looking for your vote. Maybe it's time they all started to hear about what a raw deal asthmatics are getting.

Belfast

I also have Asthma.
The best thing in did to improve my asthma was to stop using dairy products.
http://www.naturopath.org.nz/homogen.html

except for dairy product not made for Homogenised Milk.

I also was treated by a Chiropractor in Belfast city for a long standing back problem and this also helped.

I used have 2 different inhales and two different sets of tablets to take. now I only need to inhalers.

robinph

Belfast wrote:

I also have Asthma.
The best thing in did to improve my asthma was to stop using dairy products.

There was a while many years ago when I was a kid that I had to cut out all dairy as well which I think helped out with asthma as well, although I used to be allergic to all sorts of stuff as well that I cannot remember now.

tbh

Folks, this thread is just about meds and paying for them, there is a separate thread for general asthma discussion.

nesf

On the subject of meds, it can be very inconvenient when a pharmacist misreads 2/52 as 2/7 and you find yourself suddenly without "sedatives" at 2am in the morning.