agree_to_disagree

I mean to say it is unreal!!!

Just popped out to my local pharmacy and came back with four boxes of various medicines.

Nearly fainted when the bird behind the counter told me 6.88, for the lot!

Viva Espana, is all I can say!

hughandi

Yes, great for some, but workers on less than about 18k a year have to pay 40% of the actual drugs cost, and those on over 18k pay 50%.
depending on the drugs prescribed it can be quite a significant amount every 28 days.
VIVA Espana for some but not for others.

agree_to_disagree

Sorry but is the first time I have had to buy medication in quite a few years... No clue about the discounts that apply for different groups....

The point I am making is that I think it is a lot cheaper than in the UK!

mikelincs

The medicined you bought must have been sone of the cheaper ones, there are some that could have cost you several hundred Euros for a months supply, and it's this what makes the UK systen so good, those paying 'over the odds' for the cheaper medicine subsidise those who are paying a fraction of the cost.

agree_to_disagree

I disagree, why should I subsidized someone else's health costs for medicine.

That is pie in the sky thinking!

If I take care of my health throughout my life and I don't require much medication, why should I subsidise other who require expensive medication?

bob_day

You won't think that after youve bought 'over the counter' medicine. Strepsils for example, have to get them from the farmacia and they cost 8e a packet. Ibuprofen gel, funnily enough also 8e for a tube.

agree_to_disagree

I don't think I have ever had a strepsil in my life and as for Ibuprofen, can't remember the last time I had one. Many years....

I'm not one for popping pills generally...

Best thing Bob is next time you are back in the UK is fill you boots with them, before you come back to Spain!

bolton wanderer

Yeah, I have to agree.
I'd run out of med's from the UK due to being stuck in Spain for longer than I'd anticipated. I was quite surprised that I was able to get my med's over the counter by showing the prescription on the packets. Even more surprised by the cost.....far cheaper than in the UK. OK, my med's are pretty common place for an aging person but happy that they're available.

Glad you got sorted, isn't Spain great.

hughandi

Not so pie in the sky thinking.
Everyone in the world is either being subsidised or subsidising others.
The people who have children are subsidising others children through taxes, as are the workers subsidising the unemployed, disabled, etc.
That is way a fair society works , I wouldn't have it any other way.
But Spain is no different to the UK, and for every non profit making service, someone always pays and subsidises others.
In spain it it almost exclusively the worker, the vast majority Spanish.
They pay a very high rate to be self employed, and also get stung for prescription costs.

Lynn R

It very much depends on your circumstances. I have an S1 as the dependant of a UK state pensioner, so I pay 10% of the cost of my medications. For the 4 types of tablet I take, it currently costs me under €3 per month, so yes, very cheap - but in the UK they would cost me nothing at all as I'd be exempt from prescription charges. Before I became entitled to public health coverage here and only had private health insurance, just one of the medications cost me €28 every 28 days. A generic equivalent became available after a few years which brought the cost down to €12.60. If I were too young to have exemption from prescription charges in the UK, however, at 9.15 per item now the cost would be a lot more than the unsubsidised full price of the same medications here. But as has already been said, if someone has the misfortune to have to take some extremely expensive medication they are going to have to pay much more than a UK prescription charge would amount to.

keithBT

It might be alright if you are a resident with a discount certificate, but otherwise I've always found Spain at least treble uk prices. Try buying simple stuff like paracetamol or ibroprefen. In a uk supermarket you pay around 40p for sixteen tabs. You'll be lucky to get them under 2 euro in SP. Bite creams also dear. We bring everything with us that we think we might possibly need and leave it there.for next time. I needed a some Naproxen a few years back. It was ridiculous - I paid something like 7 euros for about 8 tabs. It winds me up !!!

TomAllen

I'm thinking of moving to Spain and I don't like it very much... that the cost of medication is so high.

bob_day

Reckon it's gonna be a while before we get back to th uk.. Haven't seen our kids since xmas before last.

Luckily we are healthy and don't need much in the way of medecine. Must admit i haven't had a sore throat/cold for a long time, probably due to not flying anywhere. Ibuprofen gel for when I've overdone lifitng rocks... Although magic weed solution provides more relief.

I used to be on metaformin, which cost me 18cents for a months supply on prescription, or if i needed extra supplies 2e per box. No idea what they would cost in the UK. Generally we find medicine is way cheaper here unless it's a branded product..

The biggest discrepancy i have found, although not strictly a medicine although you have to buy at the farmacia is Nicorett gum.. Box in the uk is £17-£19.over hete the same box is 60, yes 60euros.

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mikelincs

One of the reasons for the prescription charges being what they are is the number of people going to the doctor and getting prescriptions for paracetamol, cotton wool etc which they could buy OTC anywhere for very little money. When I lived in Spain I was on an S1 and at that time my prescriptions were free in Alicante province. I still bought one of the drugs I took daily OTC as they were so cheap. People need to be aware though, that durgs in Spain are often stronger that the UK versions, cases in point, at the time I lived there were Paracetamol at 1000mg and Ibuprofen at 600 mg, well above the OTC strengths in the UK. In some pharmacys you could still buy OTC antibiotics, other pharmacies no. When my Son in law and his wife and kid came they were able to buy, OTC antibiotic liquids for their daughter.

You have to realise ther are some medicines for diseases that cost £100+ per TABLET, without the prescription cap in both Spain and the UK patients would be unable to afford the lifesaving drugs, you just have to look at the USA and how many families go bankrupt or where people die because they can't afford the drugs or operations they need.

Lynn R

The price of 500mg paracetamol in Spain is €0.60 for 20 tablets, so not such a huge difference for the same strength. When we were still allowed to buy 1g paracetamol without a prescription (farmacias are not supposed to sell them OTC now, although some probably still do) it was around €2 a pack, but that was for 40 tablets (I still have some left at home!).

Asthma inhalers can be bought OTC here, and they are very cheap compared to the UK prescription charge - family members and friends who are asthma sufferers have stocked up when on visits and taken them back to the UK, so it is very much a "swings and roundabouts" situation.

https://www.murciasalud.es/gftb.php?...R03AC02&area=1

Thinking about it, medications might be something it's not possible to import into the EU from a third country now (and vice versa, presumably) so you might have problems if stopped at Customs in future with a stockpile of pills and potions!