Italian Drug Spending Cuts Clarified By Minister

Following speculation about the new Italian government's intentions on pharmaceutical spending (Marketletter June 17), Health Minister Rosy Bindi has stepped in to say that any health budget cuts the government might announce will be under 1,000 billion lire ($648.5 million). The 15,000-16,000 billion lire correction to the state budget, which the government is considering, will stem from some 11,500 billion lire spending cuts, with the rest coming from higher revenues, including some taxation.

Ms Bindi confirmed that setting the same reimbursement price for products with the same active ingredients will be one of the provisions to be announced, which will lead to a realignment of drug prices to the lowest level.

The Minister also revealed that among other provisions to be enacted in Italy will be changes affecting the retired population. No contributions to the state health budget will be due from pensioners with incomes lower than 9.5 million lire a year, but a 1.5% (tax deductible) contribution will instead be levied on pensioners with higher incomes. However, she pointed out that older people could not expect the younger generation to support all their costs. Ms Bindi said she thought she could exclude the introduction of new or higher "tickets," or patient copayments.