The Drugs Payment Scheme puts a ceiling on what your household spends on approved prescribed medicines. Register, and you pay no more than €80 in a month no matter what you are prescribed. It is not means-tested and there is no charge to join.
Most people meet it the hard way, at a counter, holding a prescription that costs more than they expected. It is worth having before that happens, because it only works from the day you hold it.
The short version
- What it caps
- €80 a month for the whole household, for approved prescribed drugs, medicines and certain appliances
- Who can join
- Anyone ordinarily resident in Ireland, meaning you live here or intend to for at least a year
- Who cannot
- Medical card holders. The two do not combine
- Who it covers
- You, your spouse or partner, and children under 18, or under 23 in full-time education
- A new baby
- Is not added automatically. Email or phone the HSE
- Apply
- Online at mydps.ie, or by post
Who can use it, and who cannot
You must be ordinarily resident in Ireland: living here, or intending to live here for at least a year. That is the only condition about you. Income is not one of them, so this is not a scheme you can earn too much for.
There is one hard exclusion, and it surprises people: if you have a medical card you are not eligible for the Drugs Payment Scheme. They are alternatives, not a pair. A medical card already covers prescribed medicines, subject to the prescription charge, so you are not losing out by being on the other one.
The card covers you together with:
- your spouse or partner;
- your children under 18, or under 23 if they are in full-time education;
- a family member with a physical or intellectual disability or a mental illness who cannot maintain themselves fully, which needs a medical report.
The thing that quietly breaks the cap
This is the part nobody mentions, and it costs real money. The €80 is not applied automatically across different pharmacies. Use two in the same month and you can end up paying more than the maximum, because neither one can see what you spent at the other.
Two things follow from that. Use the same pharmacy within a month wherever you can. You do not have to register with one, so this is a habit rather than a rule. And if you do go over because you used more than one, you can claim the difference back: there is a refund claim form, you post it to the address on the form, and you can check the status of the claim at drugspayment.ie.
The refund covers the split-pharmacy case, not a missing registration. If you were not on the scheme yet when you paid, there is nothing to claim back. That is the whole argument for sorting the card before you need it rather than after the first prescription.
Adding your baby
A new baby is not added to the card on their own, and until they are, what you spend on their medicines does not count towards your household maximum. It is a small job that is easy to leave undone in the first weeks, which is exactly when a first prescription tends to arrive.
To add a new baby or any dependant, including a spouse, email nmcu.cod@hse.ie or phone 0818 224 478.
One thing to plan around: the application needs PPS numbers for everyone named on the card. Your baby's PPS number follows from registering the birth, so adding them waits on that. Our guide to the PPS number covers how it reaches you.
How to apply
Online at mydps.ie, which is the quickest route. By post, you can download the application form, ask for one on 0818 22 44 78, or pick one up at your local primary care centre.
Have these ready before you start:
- PPS numbers for you, your spouse or partner, and each eligible child;
- full name, address, gender, date of birth and contact details for everyone being covered;
- proof that you are ordinarily resident, a current electricity bill for instance;
- for a child aged 18 to 23, proof of full-time education, stamped by their school or university.
Two things worth knowing
The card expires. The expiry date is printed on it, and when it runs out you have to apply again. Nothing renews on its own.
Free HRT runs through this scheme. Since 1 June 2025, if you are prescribed hormone replacement therapy and you are registered for the Drugs Payment Scheme, you can get it free from a participating pharmacy. Worth knowing if HRT is part of your own care after birth.
The HSE has also temporarily paused printing some plastic health cards, including this one. You can still apply and still get what you are entitled to, and the digital version appears in the HSE Health App.
Who decides, and where to ask
The scheme is run by the HSE, which decides eligibility and holds your registration. For anything about your own card, the Client Registration Unit is on 0818 224 478 or clientregistration@hse.ie. Your pharmacy applies the scheme but does not administer it.
See this alongside the rest of the paperwork
parentready puts your Irish parent admin in the order it has to happen, so the steps that wait on the PPS number wait, and the ones worth doing early show up early. Free, private, and on your device.
Official sources
- Citizens Information: Drugs Payment Scheme
- HSE: Drugs Payment Scheme
- HSE: Your Drugs Payment Scheme card
- HSE: Apply online at mydps.ie
Facts checked against the official pages on 9 August 2026. This is general information, not medical, legal or financial advice, and it does not decide your eligibility; the HSE makes that decision. The threshold and the rules are set by government and can change; always confirm on the official pages linked above.