To save money, Marisol Touraine wants to test the sale of single drugs. A measure already called into question.
“Each French person keeps an average of 1.5 kg of unused medication in his medicine cabinet! It is both a waste and a danger, because it promotes self-medication improperly, ”Marisol Touraine confided in Les Echos on Wednesday. To remedy this problem, the Minister of Health announced, on the occasion of the presentation of the long-distance project for the financing of social security 2014 (1), that she was going to experiment with dispensing drugs on a unit basis, and no longer by box, starting with certain antibiotics, in certain regions.
But is this announcement, which aims above all to save on drug costs, really effective? “The measure is a little spectacular, but we should not expect substantial savings on drugs. It’s a bit of a myth! “ cowardly Claude Le Pen, health economist, contacted by why actor.
The packaging of the boxes is adapted in France
In countries where this type of packaging is practiced (in the United States for example), it is difficult to calculate the financial impact of such a measure. The practice is old there and these drugs sold individually are most of the time not reimbursed. Exception made for patients who have taken out private insurance.
Concerning France, Claude Le Pen believes that the packaging of drugs in France is already concerned with the real needs of patients estimated by practitioners. For major pathologies in particular, unit treatment does not need to exist. For chronic diseases, doctors often prescribe a month of treatment, so a box of 28 tablets is quite suitable. The problem is different in other countries which are sometimes on large packagings, with boxes of 80 tablets for example.
Listen to Claude Le Pen, health economist: ” The French packaging corresponds well to the new prescriptions. They are regularly updated by the Transparency Commission. “
The risks of unit packaging
Indeed, according to the economist, “unit packaging of the drug is risky. “ With this unique packaging, all medicine boxes look alike. Most of the time, it is a small, orange-colored plastic bottle, he argues. Only a label with the name of the product, that of the patient, and the dosage, makes it possible to differentiate one treatment from another.
From there, the risks of confusion between two drugs are numerous for the pharmacist, but also for the patient. “These errors that are possible can be dramatic for the health of patients “, concludes Claude Le Pen.
Listen to Claude Le Pen: ” There is a risk of confusion because the packaging of the medicine by the unit does not make a difference for the patient. The risk is the same for the pharmacist. That’s why in France, we always gave it up…“
(1) The 2014 Social Security financing bill provides for a savings plan of 2.4 billion euros in health spending.
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