Serbia Cuts Copayments on 769 Prescription Drugs

How much do you pay today for a medicine you were still topping up yesterday? For most therapies noticeably less, and for some of them three times less, because as of August 1, 2026 a lower copayment applies to 769 medicines on the A1 list of the Republic Health Insurance Fund, known in Serbia as the RFZO.

That covers 99.6 percent of all drugs that carry a copayment at all. The measure reaches around three million insured people, which is nearly everyone who picks up a regular prescription. Until now the patient share ranged from 10 to 90 percent of the price. From today it runs from 10 to 50 percent.

The arithmetic is simple. Anyone who was paying between 15 and 45 percent of the drug price now pays 10 percent. Anyone whose share sat between 50 and 90 percent sees that amount cut by 40 percent.

What a pack costs now

The exact figures are public for the first time, and this is where the household budget shows up:

• Movymia for osteoporosis, from 6,393 to 1,827 dinars a pack, roughly 55 down to 16 euros
• the Trimbow inhaler for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, from 2,550 to 850 dinars, about 22 down to 7 euros
• flecainide, used for heart rhythm disorders, from 1,423 to 285 dinars
• Nolpaza for stomach conditions, from 195 to 97 dinars
• Plavix, an antiplatelet drug, from about 302 to roughly 60 dinars

For most medicines the saving per pack lands between 100 and 500 dinars. For inhalers it runs from 300 to 1,700 dinars, which adds up to several thousand dinars a year for anyone on continuous therapy.

What changes on August 17

The second measure is permanent and starts on August 17. It puts 16 blood thinning drugs and two heart failure drugs on prescription.

For the blood thinners used in stroke prevention, the RFZO covers 70 percent of the price and the patient covers 30 percent. Instead of the previous 1,700 to 6,000 dinars, the counter price drops to 600 to 1,100 dinars, or roughly 5 to 9 euros. For heart failure drugs the fund takes half, so instead of 2,500 to 4,500 dinars a patient pays around 1,700.

The price tag for the state

The full program is worth 12.2 billion dinars, or about 104.8 million euros. Of that, 8.5 billion goes to the first measure, which runs for at least 12 months, while 3.7 billion a year funds the permanent model under which the state absorbs part of the cost of new prescription drugs.

The package was announced by Finance Minister Sinisa Mali.

“That is some 99.6 percent of the medicines dispensed with a copayment, meaning drugs where citizens cover between 10 and 90 percent of the price. Take the asthma inhaler, it cost 2,550 dinars and now it will be priced at 850 dinars,” Mali said.

Mali also said tax revenue in the first seven months of 2026 came in more than 40 billion dinars above projections. The same package includes 30,000 domestic holiday vouchers worth 10,000 dinars each.

When do the new therapies arrive?

The revised list adds 145 medicines dispensed on prescription at the expense of compulsory health insurance, among them therapies for rare, oncological and cardiovascular diseases. They do not all land on the same day, and the calendar is split into three dates:

• from August 16, Forxiga and Jardiance, for diabetes and cardiovascular conditions
• from August 26, immunological, dermatological and oncological therapies
• from September 30, advanced treatments for malignant diseases

The list also opens up to therapies for Fabry disease, spinal muscular atrophy, hereditary angioedema and chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

What patients need to do

Nothing in particular, the change goes through the pharmacy on its own. When the government adopted the decision to expand the list, which we covered at the time, only the number of drugs and the promise of a lower copayment were known. Today the per pack figures are on the table.

One practical tip if you are not sure the change touches your own therapy. The copayment is printed on the pharmacy receipt, so the quickest check is to compare a July receipt with an August one for the same drug. If nothing moved, the medicine is probably not among the 769 on the A1 list, and the pharmacist at the counter can confirm that while filling your prescription.