State aid programs for all who are entitled to free drugs have moved dead center in recent decades. A high-quality organization of the procedure for obtaining medications is the key to successfully solving problems and overcoming the crisis in the healthcare sector, which is associated with the insufficient attention of the authorities to the diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive measures of the population.
Tasks and benefits of preferential drug provision
First of all, drug provision should affect the most vulnerable and defenseless categories of the population. The social significance of such projects can hardly be overestimated. It should be noted that such an action is aimed at overcoming and preventing possible risks as soon as possible. Providing unprotected people with the required medicines is an important component for maintaining their health and, as a result, a normal level and quality of life.
In addition, it is important to pay attention to the fact that the availability of medicines allows achieving success in therapeutic measures, reducing the statistical number of patients in dire need of hospitalization and in-patient treatment.
Thanks to the help provided by the state, even expensive types of drugs and medical devices became available to patients who would never have been able to purchase them at their own expense.
Fixing the issue of drug provision at the legislative level
You can find out who the free drugs are for, as well as what drugs are provided to people on a humanitarian basis and how to get them by reading the legislative framework governing this issue. The main regulatory act, which should be sought for clarification, is the document “On Circulation of Medicines”, adopted in 2010. It is important to dwell on the interpretation by the legislator of the term “drugs”. Deputies in the State Duma believe that this group should include any components and their combinations that come into contact with the human or animal organism and actively penetrate deep into biological tissues. It is necessary to use any of the drugs in order to:
- preventative measures;
- treatment
- surveys;
- postoperative recovery and rehabilitation;
- to save, prevent or terminate pregnancy.
This group also includes drugs obtained in the most diverse way:
- from blood;
- organs and tissues of an animal or human;
- plants;
- mineral components;
- obtained through biological or chemical synthesis.
Benefits for medicines: from the 90s to today
Having ignored the pharmaceutical market, it is worthwhile to dwell on the problems that accompany the preferential drug provision of the population. The first time the need to solve this problem was seriously discussed at the end of the last century. Then, in the early 90s, because of the many unfavorable factors of socio-economic development, it was not possible for people who needed help to purchase medicines to buy the necessary drugs on their own. The low incomes of the predominant part of the country's inhabitants, a high incidence rate, a significant decrease in average life expectancy, etc., were all the primary factors that led to an increase in debts to pharmacy companies, which laid the foundation for the dispensing of medicines on an unpaid or preferential basis on prescription from the doctor.
In this regard, in 1994, the Government of the Russian Federation adopted a resolution “On state support for the development of the medical industry ...”. According to this by-law, a separate category of residents of the country, as well as persons suffering from various pathologies (a list of ailments was attached to the resolution), a preferential vacation of drugs was laid. The unpaid basis for obtaining medicines for certain groups of the population was reflected in the best way on the medical support of citizens and healthcare institutions.
Changes in the tasks of drug provision
Preparations, therapeutic products became available to the public during the restructuring of political and economic domestic relations in the field of drug circulation. Despite the fact that the rapid rise in prices and the decline in the income level of the population became the main reasons for the inaccessibility of various drugs, the concept of “free medicine” has not acquired an empty meaning.
The policy of the Russian state is aimed at removing obstacles to the citizens of the country, regardless of their financial situation, the necessary treatment. An appendix to the above resolution was the address of pharmacies in which privileged groups of the population could receive prescription necessary medicines.
The drug supply, the principles and schemes of which were revised by the Government in 2004, acquired the following characteristic features:
- individualization of accounting for medicines provided in the form of state aid;
- a single price level that operates within the framework of the generally accepted list of medicines;
- liquidated the previous disproportionate drug supply in the regions of Russia.
By amending some legislative acts in 2005, special attention was paid to the need to prescribe at the official level a more accurate mechanism for people to receive a “drug benefit”. In addition, in the block of the above amendments, it is envisaged to carry out adjustments with respect to directly the process of implementing state support for socially vulnerable groups of the population.
Who is eligible for government assistance?
To date, the program for providing medicines and medicines on a free basis to needy citizens is actively implemented by the state.
The holder of the benefit can receive the funds prescribed by the doctor absolutely without paying for the goods or taking advantage of such a privilege as a 50% discount on the purchase of drugs. In accordance with medical standards and legislative acts, the following are entitled to receive free medicines:
- disabled people who have been injured or sick due to the operations of the Second World War;
- participants in the direct battles of World War II;
- veterans and military personnel who served in military schools, military units, institutions from 1941 to 1945;
- persons holding the breastplate “Resident of the besieged Leningrad”;
- workers of air defense facilities and local air defense during the Great Patriotic War;
- persons involved in the work and construction of protective structures, bases of the navy, airfield, etc .;
- family members of deceased disabled war veterans, veterans and veterans;
- disabled people and children with disabilities 1, 2 groups;
- participants in rescue operations in the zone of the Chernobyl and Semipalatinsk radioactive destruction.
Social pharmacies: where can I get medicine?
To receive preferential medicines, patients must come to a specialized pharmacy. A pharmacist-pharmacist will be able to provide the necessary drug only if a prescription certified by the seal of the attending physician and the head physician of the medical institution is provided. The recipe is written out on the forms intended for this, drawn up in accordance with the approved form.
In each Russian city, the distribution of preferential drugs to the population is carried out by the pharmacy chain, which won the preliminary tender. The tasks of the chosen enterprise include storage, transportation and distribution of medicines to needy citizens. Over the past few years, the process of obtaining the necessary medicines by people has changed in a positive direction. The endless “live” lines in many cities have been replaced by a convenient registration system operating in online mode.
The contest network of social pharmacies, as a rule, is maximally adapted to accept visitors with disabilities. Many rooms have ramps and special button calls for calling a pharmacist. Most often, the halls in which citizens are received are located on the ground floor in order to create maximum amenities. Addresses of pharmacies in a specific locality, prescription drugs on a free basis or at a discount, can be found in the directory or on the official website of the city.
Who is entitled to free drugs: a list of beneficiaries and patients
Guarantees of providing social assistance in the form of benefits for medicines are provided by state authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in accordance with the territorial federal program. As already mentioned, funds are sent to unprotected segments of the population based on lists of groups of categories of citizens and certain diseases. For outpatient therapy, drugs are prescribed for free, and in some cases, a 50% discount applies to people. Medicines are free for people like:
- Heroes of the USSR, Heroes of the Russian Federation and Knights of the Orders of Glory;
- prisoners of chancellors during WWII, prisoners of the ghetto and victims of fascist actions;
- children under 3 years old and children under 6 years old from large families;
- invalids of 1, 2 non-working groups, children with disabilities.
Patients suffering from some ailments are also entitled to free medication.
Specific diseases include:
- childhood diseases of the central nervous system, cerebral palsy;
- phenylketonuria and hepatocerebral dystrophy;
- cystic fibrosis (in children);
- acute porphyria;
- AIDS, HIV infection;
- malignant tumors.
Discount Medicines
Preferential drugs with a 50% discount are most often received throughout the state by certain groups of people, including:
- Senior citizens. People of the older age group who receive the minimum cash benefit for reaching retirement age, disability, and also in case of loss of the breadwinner.
- People with disabilities are 2 groups that continue to work, and 3 groups in the absence of official employment and the correctly established procedure for its confirmation.
- People who have experienced political repression, served their sentences in prison for political reasons, undergone unjustified compulsory treatment in psychiatric hospitals, etc.
In a separate way, free medicines are dispensed for people with diseases that belong to special categories of pathologies. Such are hemophilia, cystic fibrosis, Gaucher disease, pituitary dwarfism, multiple sclerosis, blood cancer. Patients after transplantation of individual organs and tissues also need specific drug support. Funds for the implementation of such a program, approved at the legislative level, are provided for by subsidized intergovernmental transfers.
Money instead of medicine: is it possible?
Free medications are optional benefits. The law of Russia today provides for the right of citizens who have reason to receive social medicines to refuse the drugs they are supposed to. In addition, instead of a package of medicines, a person may receive monetary compensation. For this, it is necessary to apply with the appropriate application to the social security authorities, confirming the desire to refuse to receive benefits in their natural form.
The period for the provision of social services to citizens from the category of needing free or preferential provision of medicines is a calendar year. At the initial application for the provision of medicines, it is necessary to present a medical insurance policy for compulsory medical insurance, SNILS (for citizens included in the Federal Register) and a free prescription. The release of drugs is carried out by the doctor immediately after examining the patient.
How are preferential medicines prescribed?
Among the specialists who can prescribe the intake of drugs belonging to the category of preferential, at the legislative level are noted:
- local therapist;
- district pediatrician;
- family doctor (general practitioner);
- paramedic.
Narrow specialists can prescribe recipes for preferential medicines in accordance with the approved list of major diseases. In some “non-standard” cases, prescription of drugs is carried out by the attending physician in consultation with a narrow-profile specialist.
The amount of drugs provided on a preferential basis, as a rule, corresponds to the required volume of medicines for a full course of therapy. If it is necessary to carry out long-term treatment and, accordingly, use more medicines, by decision of a special commission, the prescription of medicines can be assigned for no more than 2 months. The exceptions are drugs and medical devices subject to regular subject-quantitative accounting.
In cases where the course of treatment coincides with the patient’s stay in the sanatorium, the treating doctor must prescribe medications in such a volume that will be enough for the entire period of stay in the medical institution. As a rule, we are talking about the treatment of chronic pathologies with a long protracted course.
The attending physician or ambulance must familiarize with the right to receive preferential medicines of a person belonging to a particular privileged category. The drug supply for everyone who urgently needs this is one of the important tasks of a modern socially developed state.