El Official Gazette of the Canary Islands (BOC) has published on Thursday 16 of May, a decree which guarantees free of charge for all pensioners with incomes below 18.000 euros per year. This measure, which takes effect on Friday, will benefit 292.458 people. A total of 70% of total Canarian pensioners, Or what is the same Around 300.000 Canarian pensioners will have their medicines for free.
According to a statement from the Canarian Government, the decree is approved to ensure adherence to medical treatment of those with lower incomes. Grants will be applied automatically, without the beneficiaries having to carry out any procedure. In this procedure, the Official Associations of Pharmacists from both provinces who will assume the procedures derived from the invoices of these medicines to avoid that the patients have to carry out administrative procedures. The Canary Islands Government has taken as reference the model followed by the Valencian Community, which established this measure in 2016.
The decree highlights data from the electronic prescription information system of the SCS, which clarifies that a significant number of pensioner patients and their beneficiaries with incomes below 18.000 euros have not started or have interrupted treatments prescribed by the corresponding physicians. For economic or social reasons, an important group with serious economic difficulties can not access the treatments they need to safeguard their health. The Government understands that these data determine the need to continue adopting measures to promote economic recovery and the benefits of the welfare state.
Also, they will be entitled to the aid the people who are beneficiaries of the insured as pensioners, provided that their income is less than the 18.000 euros. The decree clarifies that the maximum amount of the grant per beneficiary may not exceed 70 euros in one year.
