2023-2026, the drug reimbursement fund is decreasing in relation to the total budget

2026-01-05 10:57:00, Ekonomi CNA

2023-2026, the drug reimbursement fund is decreasing in relation to the total

Budgetary expenditures are growing much faster than funds for drug reimbursement, which shows that the government is not distributing public funds in fair proportions even though the need for medications is growing rapidly.

The 2026 budget foresees total expenditures of 886.7 billion lek or almost 9 billion euros. While the fund for drug reimbursement is only 13.5 billion lek and constitutes 1.5 percent of total budget expenditures.

From 2023 to 2026, overall budget expenditures increased by 37 percent, while those for drug reimbursement increased by 18.4%.

Data show that the share of expenditures for reimbursement of medications in relation to the overall budget is decreasing.

In 2023, the reimbursement accounted for about 1.8% of total budget expenditures, while in 2024 it falls to 1.6% and in 2026 it stabilizes at about 1.5%. Although the fund is increasing in nominal value, from year to year it is taking a smaller relative weight in the overall state budget, suggesting that its growth is not keeping pace with the expansion of public spending.

Official data show a systematic increase in chronic diseases by over 5-6 percent per year after the pandemic. The aging population and the growing demand for more modern treatments put pressure on the reimbursement fund not to decline in relative weight, but to move at least at the same pace as the increase in budget expenditures or even faster.

This performance shows that the budget system is giving priority to other items, while the burden of disease is rapidly increasing and Albania is the only country in Europe that does not yet have a PET Scanner in the public system.

Meanwhile, reimbursement requests are much higher than the available funds, causing the government to increase funds in the middle of the year.

In mid-2023, the government increased the budget for reimbursement of medications to 12 billion lek from 11.4 billion at the beginning of the year, but even this was not enough, as 58 million lek in arrears were generated by the end of the year.

Experts believe that the aging population and the impact of the Covid pandemic have increased chronic diseases. Diabetes or Hypertension, as diseases with a high incidence in the population, received more funding, causing the insulin group to record a high increase in reimbursement costs in recent years./ Monitor