Pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement in Finland

Abstract

The cornerstones of social security within the Finnish health care system are public health care and an insurance system covering drug costs in outpatient care and the services of the private health care sector. The reimbursement system is two-tiered, so that when a wholesales price is approved for a drug, it automatically enters the basic reimbursement category. The acceptance of a medicine into the higher reimbursement categories for serious and long-term illnesses involves a separate legislative process. Compared with OECD countries, the degree of reimbursement is low. The price decision is mainly based on international price comparisons, the price of corresponding products on the market, and the funds the reimbursement system has at its disposal. Since 1998, a pharmacoeconomic justification has been mandatory for all new chemical entities. The wholesales prices fall below the EU average. A committee deliberating a reform of the reimbursement system is expected to deliver its report during the summer of 2001.