Albanians financed 160 million euros of pharmaceutical products from their own pockets in 2024

2025-01-31 08:20:00, Ekonomi CNA

Albanians financed 160 million euros of pharmaceutical products from their own

Year after year, out-of-pocket costs for purchasing medicines are increasing because the medical needs of an aging population are increasing and, on the other hand, public funds for drug reimbursement are not changing.

According to official data, in 2024, over 28.1 billion lek of pharmaceutical products (281 million euros) were imported.

On the other hand, the drug reimbursement fund last year had a ceiling of 12 billion lek. As can be seen, the state has compensated 120 million euros out of the 281 million euros that Albanian citizens have spent on medication. About 160 million euros for pharmaceutical products were paid from personal income.

Imports of pharmaceutical products in value recorded an annual increase of 5% last year, while the planned fund for drug reimbursement in 2024 is 12 billion lek or about 1% lower than last year's figure.

In 2024, the drug reimbursement fund accounted for 42.6% of the value of imports, down from 45% the year before. Drug imports in value increased by 16% between 2019 and 2024, but market sources claim that the population's needs for pharmaceutical products are much higher than imports.

But Albania, as a country with a high level of poverty in the population and the lowest income in Europe, cannot have access to innovative therapies.

In the last consultation of the agreement with Albania, the International Monetary Fund advised the government to expand public funding for the health and education sectors.

Albania's demographic developments point to increasing pressure on health spending. The Fund assessed that Albania has the fiscal space to increase health spending. The World Bank, in previous assessments, has also called for increased investment in human capital, with more investment in education and health.

Albanians were the most concerned in the Region about the high costs of health services according to the latest "Security Meter" survey conducted in 6 countries of the Region by the Regional Cooperation Council.

The results showed that 24% of Albanians were very worried about not being able to afford the financial costs of routine medical care and treatment. This concern was present to a lower extent among citizens of Bosnia 16%, Kosovo 9%, North Macedonia 16%, Montenegro 20% and Serbia, 20%.

Generally, citizens in the Region have high levels of financial insecurity regarding health expenses, with more than half of them (53%) concerned.

The high levels of concern among Albanian citizens are related to low incomes and, in turn, low levels of public spending on medication reimbursement. Chronically ill people in the country and those with rare diseases pay out of pocket for therapies as they are missing from reimbursement lists.

In 2024, healthcare expenditures according to the latest changes reached 75.9 billion lek from 77.9 billion lek in the second normative act.

Year after year, the health budget is growing at a slower pace than overall budget expenditures, even though the country is facing greater needs for medical treatments./ Monitor Magazine