Xin'an Evening News Anhui Network Dawan News On March 1, 2021, the new version of the national medical insurance drug list began to be implemented, and the biggest change was the addition of 119 national negotiated drugs. More than ten days later, what changes has the new version of the catalog brought to patients? Is it convenient to buy new drugs? Xin'an Evening News, Anhui Net, and Dawan News reporters visited Hefei pharmacies and found that these life-saving and emergency-saving drugs have greatly reduced the burden on patients.
Among the national negotiated drugs, the most concerned are anti-cancer drugs. Although it is a "life-saving drug", the high cost of anti-cancer drugs has become a heavy burden for many tumor patients. As early as 2019, in order to reduce the burden of drug costs on cancer patients, Hefei identified 7 pharmacies as designated pharmacies for national negotiation pharmacies, included in the scope of medical insurance reimbursement, and can buy 57 kinds of anti-cancer drugs. A few days ago, while the new version of the national medical insurance drug catalogue was implemented, Anhui also connected the "dual channel" of hospital and pharmacy supply.
Xin'an Evening News, Anhui Net, Dawan News reporters in the SuXiang Pharmacy, which specializes in selling new special drugs such as anti-tumor drugs, saw that the new 119 national negotiated drugs can already be reimbursed by medical insurance, and the cost has been greatly reduced compared with before.
For example, olapal, a targeted drug for the treatment of ovarian cancer, was listed in China for 24,790 yuan per box, and after two rounds of national negotiations, it has now dropped to 5,712 yuan per box, a 77% drop, and expanded the indications for medical insurance reimbursement. A patient purchased 4 boxes of Olapally at the pharmacy and paid only 1524.02 yuan out of pocket, only 381 yuan per box.
The targeted drug lunvatinib for the treatment of liver cancer from Japan, the price of each box before the national negotiation is 16800 yuan, and patients weighing less than 60 kilograms need to use two boxes per month, at their own expense of 33600 yuan, now only need to pay 1730.07 yuan, saving nearly 32000 yuan per month. Carellizumab (PD-1), which treats esophageal cancer, needs to pay 19800 yuan per cigarette before the national negotiation, and now only needs to pay 1342.24 yuan through medical insurance reimbursement, saving more than 18000 yuan per bottle. The reimbursement ratio varies from type to type of medicare.
"The significant reduction in the cost of drugs negotiated by the state can make better drugs benefit more patients, improve the quality of life of patients, and prolong the life cycle of patients." According to the staff of the pharmacy, the new version of the directory has been landed, and eligible insured patients can carry out real-time settlement of medical insurance when they purchase drugs.
According to reports, a total of 162 drugs were negotiated, 119 drugs were successfully negotiated, the success rate was 73.46%, and the average price of drugs that were successfully negotiated was reduced by 50.64%. According to the Calculation of the National Medical Insurance Bureau, from the perspective of patient burden, through negotiated price reductions and medical insurance reimbursement, it is expected to reduce the burden of patients by about 28 billion yuan in 2021. Among them, 14 anti-cancer drugs have been negotiated, with an average price reduction of 43.46%, and it is expected to save more than 3 billion yuan for cancer patients in 2021.
Xin'an Evening News Anhui Network Dawan News reporter Wu Biqi
Editor: Peng Ling