In the context of the Health Spending Observatory, this report reveals that the weight of direct household payments in community pharmacies rose from 39% in 2000 to 45% in 2020.
This increase reflects the 'insignificant' weight of health insurance and health subsystems in health expenditure in community pharmacies and reveals the potential reduction in financial protection of the population.
Over the analysed period, the increase in consumption contributed to a 37% increase in the cost of medicines. Conversely, the reduction in prices during this period contributed to a 16% reduction in costs. Thus, the combination of these two effects resulted in an increase in costs of 21%.
š The full report can be found here: See full report in Portuguese
This report is part of the Social Equity Initiative, a partnership between FundaciĆ³n "la Caixa" , Banco BPI, and Nova School of Business and Economics.
Author of the study: Pedro Pita Barros and Eduardo Costa