Nemerenco: Medicines Could Become a Luxury for Thousands of Moldovans

Former Health Minister Ala Nemerenco has criticized a proposed amendment to tax legislation that would abolish the reduced 8% VAT rate on medicines and replace it with the standard 20% rate. According to her, the measure would have a negative impact on both patients and the healthcare system as a whole, bani.md reports. In an analysis published on social media, Nemerenco argued that the initiative runs counter to European trends, as most European countries apply reduced, super-reduced, or even zero VAT rates to essential medicines. She noted that recent amendments to the EU VAT Directive allow member states to reduce VAT to 0% on certain essential pharmaceuticals in order to make treatment more affordable for the population. According to Nemerenco, increasing VAT to 20% would inevitably raise medicine prices, reduce patients’ access to treatment, and place additional pressure on household budgets. She also believes that the measure could negatively affect the procurement of medicines for hospitals, national healthcare programs, and drug reimbursement schemes. This, in turn, could lead both to reduced purchasing volumes and to diminished access to modern treatments for patients. In addition, the former minister warned that some pharmaceutical products could become economically unviable for distributors and pharmacies, creating a risk that they could disappear from the market altogether.