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How to get prescription medicines in Denmark

Elizabeth Anne Brown
Elizabeth Anne Brown - [email protected]
How to get prescription medicines in Denmark
Photo: Michal Jarmoluk/Pixabay

Are prescription drugs covered by Danish national healthcare? It's complicated.

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How prescriptions work in Denmark

You've seen your doctor and been given a prescription. Now what? 

Once your doctor inputs the details of your prescription into the Danish health system, your data is available to any pharmacy in the country with a quick scan of your yellow health card. 

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All pharmacies in Denmark charge the same price for each medication, so there's no need to shop around or commit to a single 'home' pharmacy — you can just swing into whichever is most convenient for you that day. 

There are also online pharmacies that can fill your prescriptions and deliver them by courier or mail, or arrange for pickup at a pharmacy or another location. Remember to only purchase from websites with the green EU logo, according to the Danish Medicines Agency. 

READ ALSO: What happens if you lose your Danish yellow health insurance card? 

Do you have to pay for prescription medicines in Denmark? 

Mostly, yes — as a rule, prescription medicines aren't covered by the national healthcare system until you reach certain spending thresholds for the year. At that time, discounts will be applied to your future prescription medicine purchases based on how much you've already spent. 

The scheme is called 'reimbursement,' which can be slightly misleading — the discounts are applied at the pharmacy, so you don't have to pay up front and wait for the Danish Medicine Agency to cut you a check. 

Your progress toward the reimbursement thresholds is tracked automatically by the Central Reimbursement Register (abbreviated CTR in Danish), which sums up purchases of reimbursable medications associated with your yellow card. Your current CTR total is given on your receipt from the pharmacy after you purchase a medication, and you can also track your spending on reimbursable medications here

Reimbursable prescription medications purchased in other EU/EEA countries can count toward your CTR. If you've bought prescriptions abroad, fill out this form to be reimbursed based on the price of the medicine in Denmark. 

READ MORE: Why does it take so long in Denmark to see a psychologist or therapist? 

What are the reimbursement thresholds for 2022 for adult patients? 

If you're over 18, you'll have to pay out of pocket for your first 1,020 kroner of prescription medications. 

Once you've spent 1,020 kroner, you'll receive a 50 percent reimbursement on future reimbursable purchases, and your copay will be 50 percent. That increases to a 75 percent reimbursement after your CTR total hits 1,705 kroner (with a copay of 25 percent) and an 85 percent reimbursement (and copay of 15 percent) for CTR totals above 3,700. 

Remember, your CTR total is calculated by the price of the medications before the reimbursement is applied. (Even though you've only paid 50 percent of the cost of medications after you hit the first reimbursement threshold, the full price of the medication is added to your CTR total.)

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After your CTR total reaches 20,091 kroner, you'll receive 100 percent reimbursement on future medications.

Taken together, that means the most you can pay out of pocket for prescription medications in Denmark in 2022 is 4,320 kroner.

The Danish Medicines Agency provides a chart of the thresholds and an example patient's yearly spending history and reimbursements here. 

READ ALSO: Are you eligible for Danish national healthcare while your residence permit is processing? 

What about reimbursements for children's medications? 

For patients under 18, all applicable prescriptions have a minimum 60 percent reimbursement rate. That gets bumped up to 75 percent after a CTR total of 1,705 kroner, 85 percent after 3,700 kroner, and 100 percent after 24,628 kroner. 

Just like for adults, the maximum out-of-pocket costs for a child's prescriptions in a year is 4,320 kroner. 

What if I know I'll need more than 20,000 kroner of medications? 

If you have chronic conditions or a major health challenge and can tell at the beginning of the year that you'll hit the CTR maximum, you can apply for an installment plan. 

Pick the pharmacy most convenient for you and request an installment plan — you'll be able to pay the maximum yearly copay of 4,320 kroner in 12 monthly installments of 360 kroner. 

Generic versus name-brand drugs and reimbursement 

Different drugs with the same active ingredients are called synonymous — generally, if your doctor prescribes a name-brand drug and there's a less expensive synonymous drug, your pharmacist will give you the option to choose. 

If you stick with the more expensive name-brand drug, you're responsible for the cost difference and only the price of the generic drug will be added to your CTR total. 

There are sometimes good reasons for choosing a more expensive synonymous drug — if, for instance, you're allergic to some of the added ingredients in the generic form, your doctor can apply for increased reimbursement on your behalf. 

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