Do you know how much your medications are going to cost from Sunday?

SPAIN / ANDALUCÍA The new cost cutting measures are beginning to bite. As from July I most of us will be paying considerably more for our medicines. Media reports say that Andalucía is ready for the change over (details below) to a Social Security-card led system. We asked staff and farmacéuticos at local chemists what they thought. All of them shrugged their shoulders, and most said there is not nearly enough public  information out there, particularly for pensioners. The card system is supposed to tell the counter staff in what income bracket the customer is, but there doesn't seem to be much confidence in the ability of the system to cope - this assertion comes from reading the Spanish media, not based on any scientific survey. In any case, below we offer you a chart that is a guide toward knowing what you are likely to be charged for your medication - before you see it, say goodbye to cheap medicines by prescription.>>>

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©2012 Alberto Bullrich

NOTES: Certain medications and/or prescripted items, such as prostheses, are subject to 10% co-payment with a maximum payment of €4.13.

QUESTIONS: There does not appear to be any section regarding short-term unemployed. We have tried to find out about this increasingly large group but have come up with nothing, neither from the appropriate websites nor from the people who have to put this new system into place: the chenists' staff.