Every year, the government of the Russian Federation approves a list of subsidized drugs – the “List of vital and essential drugs for medical use.”
Preferential and free medicines are drugs that are prescribed to certain categories of citizens under federal law No. 178 “On State Social Assistance”. The cost of their acquisition should be partially or completely compensated by the state. From January 1, 2023, beneficiaries can also receive drugs using electronic certificates. In the recommendations enshrined in Order No. 877n, the Ministry of Health approved the list of citizens who have access to the service, as well as the list of drugs and technical medical devices for rehabilitation.
The list of vital and essential medicines was established by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 2406-r dated October 12, 2019 (as amended on December 24, 2022).
Certain issues related to the procedure for issuing prescriptions, including in the form of electronic documents, are regulated by departmental documents, for example, Order of the Ministry of Health of Russia No. 1094n dated 11/24/2021.
Who is entitled to:
- There is no general list listing all categories of citizens who are entitled to preferential medicines. The main categories of recipients of medicines on a gratuitous basis, according to Oksana Vasilyeva, Ph.D. in Law, Associate Professor of the Department of Legal Regulation of Economic Activities of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, include:
- participants of the Great Patriotic War
- persons awarded the medal “For the Defense of Leningrad” or the badge “Inhabitant of besieged Leningrad”
- Heroes of the Soviet Union, Heroes of the Russian Federation, full cavaliers of the Order of Glory
- disabled people of group I, non-working disabled people of group II, disabled children under the age of 18
- parents and wives of military personnel who died as a result of injury, concussion or injury received in defense of the country
- families with children under the age of 3 or large families with children under 6 and some other categories of citizens
In some cases, a person is required not only medicines, but also other medical products, dressings.
The provision of free medicines is also required for citizens who have the following diseases:
- cerebral palsy
- diabetes
- hepatocerebral dystrophy and phenylketonuria
- cystic fibrosis (sick children)
- acute intermittent porphyria
- AIDS, HIV and a number of other diseases
The following persons are entitled to receive medicines with a 50% discount:
- pensioners receiving a pension for old age, disability or in connection with the loss of a breadwinner in the minimum amount
- working disabled persons of group II, unemployed disabled persons of group III
- persons involved in the liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster within the exclusion zone or employed in the operation or other work at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and others
You can get medicine for free or at a discount only with a doctor’s prescription. It can be issued, according to Alexander Zhalnin, in an institution that serves patients under compulsory medical insurance. These are mainly municipal clinics and hospitals, but there are also some private clinics.
The prescription is issued in the presence of indications established by the doctor. To speed up the process, you can bring conclusions and tests confirming the diagnosis to the appointment, but, as a rule, with a long visit to the doctor, there are no problems with obtaining a prescription.
In an urgent situation, when there is no way to wait for the medicine, you can buy it yourself at your own expense. After that, with checks and a prescription, you need to contact the regional Ministry of Health and ask for a refund. In case of refusal, you can apply to the court – there are quite a lot of positive practices on this issue.
In general, if a pharmacist refuses to dispense a drug, fails to make a record of a missing drug, or the right to a benefit is violated in any other way, a complaint should be filed with the regional Ministry of Health. This can be done both through the “Gosuslugi” and during a personal visit.