On Thursday, the government will decide to raise by 90% the upper limit of income for pensioners who are entitled to compensation for medicines, Prime Minister Marcel Čolaku announced. In practice, pensioners with income from pension and social assistance up to and including 1,830 lei/month, regardless of whether they have other income or not, will receive this compensation from January 1, 2024. Until now, the income ceiling was 1,608 lei/month.

• “Today we have an extremely important decision, which concerns medicines compensated for pensioners by 90%. We are raising the limits for seniors who are eligible to receive them to reach more retirees. It is the elderly with low pensions who really need these medicines. And in 2024, we increased the health care budget by more than 40%, because this is the priority of this government,” Prime Minister Marcel Čolaku said on Thursday.

What does the act adopted by the Government provide

According to the act approved by the government on Thursday, this ceiling increase from 1,608 lei to 1,830 lei/month inclusively takes into account the increase in the value of the pension point by 13.8%, starting from January 1, 2024, as well as the provisions of Art. 83 par. (2) of Law No. 360/2023, so that pensioners’ access to 90% compensated medicines is not affected.

“The increase in the size of the pension point from January 1, 2024 from 1,785 lei to 2,032 lei, that is, its increase by 13.8% compared to the current value, is established by Art. 84 par. (6) from Law No. 360/2023 on the state pension system.

Thus, taking into account the fact that the above-mentioned legal norms are applied from January 1, 2024, and this draft decision of the Government is the next act to the corresponding normative act, it is subject to application from January 1, 2024. “, says the draft decision.