The new dispensing fee announced this week will give you certainty about what you have to pay for medicines, the Board of Healthcare Funders of Southern Africa (BHF) says.

The BHF, which represents medical schemes, says in a statement: "The new dispensing fee structure will discourage the inappropriate use of high-cost products, thereby making medical scheme contributions more affordable and assisting government and funders in making private health care accessible to more South Africans."

In 2004, the government introduced a single exit price for medicines and put a stop to discounts and additional levies on medicines. The medicine pricing regulations provided only for the addition of a dispensing fee to the single exit price.

The regulations and the dispensing fee then became subject to legal challenges and were eventually upheld, but the Department of Health was ordered to reconsider the dispensing fee.

This week, the department announced the new dispensing fee, which must be applied as follows:

• Where the single exit price of a medicine is less than R75, the dispensing fee is a total of R4 plus 33 percent of the single exit price of the medicine;
• Where the single exit price of a medicine is R75 or more but is less than R250, the dispensing fee is a total of R25 plus six percent of the single exit price of the medicine;
• Where the single exit price of a medicine is R250 or more but less than R1 000, the dispensing fee is R33 plus three percent of the single exit price of the medicine;
• Where the single exit price of a medicine is R1 000 or more, the dispensing fee is a total of R50 plus 1.5 percent of the single exit price of the medicine.

The BHF says the newly regulated dispensing fee is a maximum, but many medical schemes are expected to negotiate with providers, such as pharmacies, for lower dispensing fees.

Some medicine providers may also compete by offering lower dispensing fees, and the BHF suggests that you shop around for these.

The BHF says the medicine price increase proposed by pharmaceutical manufacturers does not bode well for medical schemes and their members, as the schemes have already completed their budgets and benefit changes for next year.