Cardiac patients appeal to prime minister to expand list of free medicines for seniors to include flosins

The catalog of reimbursable medicinal products issued free of charge to people over 75 currently includes 2046 drugs. This list does not include flosins, which are used to treat chronic kidney disease, diabetes or heart failure, among others. In Poland, we have in turn about 4.5 million patients with chronic kidney disease, 3 million diabetics, while 1.2 million suffer from heart failure. What's more, as Agnieszka Volchenko, President of the National Association of Patients with Heart and Vascular Diseases EcoSerce, emphasizes in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, in Poland very often these conditions co-morbidly co-occur. The co-morbidity and the large number of chronically ill patients make these conditions a heavy burden on the budget of the National Health Fund.

"Hospitalizations for heart failure alone result in annual expenditures of PLN 1.7 billion, and dialysis - PLN 1.3 billion per year. These diseases also largely generate indirect costs (for example, PLN 4.4 billion heart failure) and reduce the quality of life of patients and their caregivers." - reads the appeal of the National Association of Patients with Heart and Vascular Diseases EcoSerce.

However, there is a group of drugs that can be used to treat all three of the aforementioned conditions. The drugs in question are the phlozines. Although they are on the list of reimbursed drugs, Polish patients currently have to pay a surcharge of about PLN 50 for monthly therapy. The patients' representative, in a letter to the Prime Minister, points out that for many seniors this can be a cost that seriously strains the household budget. The solution is expected to be the introduction of flosins to the list of free reimbursable drugs.

"Taking into account the above information and the welfare of patients, as well as the possible benefits for the health care system in Poland, we call for the urgent inclusion of flozins in the list of free medicines for seniors. Taking this action will contribute to reducing direct costs (reducing the number of hospitalizations, dialysis, kidney transplants) or indirect costs in three common disease entities. For seniors, this will be a significant financial relief - an opinion poll conducted by the Coalition "To Help the Dependent" clearly shows that drug expenses burden the household budget of almost 95 percent of the elderly. The survey also showed that as many as 80 percent of seniors happened not to buy prescriptions due to drug prices." - points out the author of the letter.

Arguing the legitimacy of including flosins in the list of free drugs for seniors, the signatory of the appeal lists additional arguments:

• "In recent years, about PLN 100 million a year remains unused from the budget for free drugs for seniors;
• The list of free drugs for seniors has not been significantly updated in the areas of diabetes and cardiology since its inception in 2016-2017;
• The list of free drugs for seniors 75+ includes all diabetes drugs except for the newest ones, including flosins (not counting the more expensive GLP-1, or slightly older drugs
  DPP-4 group);
• The list of free medicines for seniors75+ includes all drugs used
  in heart failure except for flosins, among others."

Patient organizations, as well as experts representing the medical community supporting the chronically ill, submitted an appeal to the Minister of Health in April this year to expand the list of 75+ drugs to include flosins, which so far has not brought the expected solution. The appeal to the Prime Minister is the result of an initiative to expand the group of patients entitled to receive free drugs to include those aged 65 and over. According
to the Prime Minister's declarations, the change is to be designed in such a way as to be most beneficial to citizens. According to the National Association of Patients with Cardiovascular Diseases EcoSerce, the abolition of patient subsidies for flozins will improve the lot of many tens of thousands of sick Poles.

press release