Poland Eliminates Prescription Costs For Seniors

In 2016 Poland introduced a nationwide policy eliminating out-of-pocket prescription costs for people aged 75 and older; a new study in Health Economics (Majewska & Zaremba, 2026) finds the policy reduced average out-of-pocket drug spending by 23% and cut catastrophic drug expenses by 62%. The authors report unequal gains favoring higher-income and urban households and note increased spending on unhealthy goods, signaling distributional and behavioral concerns.