What are the financial implications of the reimbursement changes for depression and anxiety treatment?

For patients treated with inexpensive medicines for depression and anxiety, nothing will change.

Patients who are switched to a less expensive medical treatment due to the reimbursement changes will save money on their treatment. And the public sector is also going to save money on reimbursement expenses.

For instance, for each individual patient who switches from a treatment with e.g. escitalopram to citalopram, the average annual savings (for region and patient) will be between DKK 3,000 and DKK 6,000.

In 2010, approximately 133,000 patients in Denmark were treated with the expensive medicines, for which the reimbursement becomes conditional. Some of these patients are treated for other diagnoses than depression and anxiety. It is not possible to assess how many patients that can be switched to a less expensive treatment, and thus it is not possible to estimate the overall savings.