News in sight for pharmaceutical companies which, according to the provisions of the July 2011 budget package, were supposed to repay the 35% of the hospital pharmaceutical expenditure deficit, for a total of around one billion euro.
With the remodulation of the expenditure ceilings envisaged in the draft of the health 'decree' which should arrive for examination by the Council of Ministers next week, in fact, the figure would drop to around 200 million euros. But the industries say they are unhappy with what awaits them. The July maneuver envisaged that, in the event of failure to reach an agreement between the State and the Regions by 30 April 2012 on the methods for achieving public finance objectives, the pharmaceutical companies would have to be charged for exceeding the spending ceiling up to a maximum of 35% in proportion to the turnover for drugs sold to public structures.
"However, perplexities have arisen – reads the draft – about the opportunity to implement this provision". And this "both in consideration of the excessive gap between the hospital expenditure ceiling set at 2.4% and the real value, which has exceeded the 4% quota for years, and because the criterion indicated by the maneuver appears unfair: in fact, it places charges on the companies that have not contributed to the breakthrough.
On the other hand, the alternative 'automatic' measure envisaged in the event of failure to adopt the regulation by 30 June 2012, i.e. the simple lowering of the territorial expenditure ceiling from 13.3% to 12.5%, also appeared unsatisfactory".
It was therefore preferred to remodulate the expenditure ceilings: from 2013, that of the territorial pharmaceuticals, net of the reimbursement price paid by citizens, went from 13.3 to 11.3% of the National Health Fund, while that for hospitals went from 2.4% to 3.2%.
Therefore, although "the decision to charge the pharmaceutical companies with the 35% compensation for exceeding the hospital expenditure ceiling" is confirmed. Absolutely against the new rules Massimo Scaccabarozzi, president of Farmindustria
