Picture by kanchanachitkhamma
Additional costs caused by changes to three month prescriptions for ADHD medication
Updated 26 January 2023
Late last year, we spread the news that the government was making changes to allow for the three-month prescription of ADHD medication – but only dispensed one month at a time. We thought this was good news - you will only need to contact your General Practitioner (GP) or specialist once every three months to get your prescription (script).
Sadly, this hasn’t turned out the way we thought. The Pharmaceutical Schedule allows Pharmac to subsidise only one month of ADHD medication per script. This requirement has not changed yet (and Pharmac and the Ministry of Health can’t tell us when it will change).
So, it goes like this: you can now get your ADHD medication on a three-month script – yay! Pharmac subsidises your first month, but you will have to pay the unsubsidised amount (around $100) for your second and third months – boo!
We advise you to ensure your prescriber continues to give you a script for only one month at a time.
In the meantime, we are chasing the government on this issue and will update our website and social media channels when we find out the subsidy covers all three months.
You can find out more about the changes on the Pharmac and Ministry of Health websites.
Late last year, we spread the news that the government was making changes to allow for the three-month prescription of ADHD medication – but only dispensed one month at a time. We thought this was good news - you will only need to contact your General Practitioner (GP) or specialist once every three months to get your prescription (script).
Sadly, this hasn’t turned out the way we thought. The Pharmaceutical Schedule allows Pharmac to subsidise only one month of ADHD medication per script. This requirement has not changed yet (and Pharmac and the Ministry of Health can’t tell us when it will change).
So, it goes like this: you can now get your ADHD medication on a three-month script – yay! Pharmac subsidises your first month, but you will have to pay the unsubsidised amount (around $100) for your second and third months – boo!
We advise you to ensure your prescriber continues to give you a script for only one month at a time.
In the meantime, we are chasing the government on this issue and will update our website and social media channels when we find out the subsidy covers all three months.
You can find out more about the changes on the Pharmac and Ministry of Health websites.
