Chemist to spare ‘secret tax’ on
ONLINE pharmacy Healthwave has said it will pay one of the most unfair and annoying stealth taxes on your behalf.
Every patient – including medical card holders – pays the Government a €1.50 charge for every prescription.
The sicker you are, the more you pay.
Apparently, the charge was introduced to stop people stockpiling medicine many years ago and it is now just another money-spinning secret tax – and one levied on those people who, by definition, are the poorest and most vulnerable – people who are entitled to hold a medical card.
What is the point of this? To discourage people from buying their medicine? To punish the sick?
Well, Healthwave, a digital pharmacy service, has done more than highlight this issue, it is also offering to solve it, from the patient’s viewpoint.
Its Zero Cost Medical Card Membership Plan can potentially saving Ireland’s 1.5m medical card holders as much as €180 a year on prescription costs alone.
For the first time, medical card holders will not be charged the €1.50 Government fee per medication, which is capped at €180 annually.
The pharmacy will absorb the cost instead.
What’s more, they will be able to avail of free Healthwave Digital Pharmacy membership, which includes access to 24 / 7 pharmacy consultations, a free medication sorting service, zero dispensing fees, much cheaper medicines and the free delivery of prescriptions nationwide.
In Ireland, over 1.5m (32%) of the population has medical card eligibility through the General Medical Services Scheme. Prescription charges of €85.33m, paid by medical card holders,
were recouped by the HSE from the pharmacist.
Healthwave is launching this initiative in response to longstanding calls and recommendations, from healthcare providers in
Ireland, for the State to remove prescription fee levies for medical card holders and revise the current HSE primary care reimbursement service.
Founder and managing director of Healthwave, Shane O’Sullivan, said: ‘People eligible for the medical cards are often low-income earners.
‘Our goal at Healthwave is to simplify access to medications yet cost can be a significant barrier.
‘The cap of €15 per month might not seem like much to some people but it could impact the grocery or transportation budget of those less well off.’
Mr O’Sullivan said: ‘We believe that medical card holders should not have to bear these costs and are therefore launching a new zero cost medical card membership plan with our PillPods service.’