Portugal's Socialist Party (PS) has called on the Government to revise the decree that sets state cost-sharing for obesity medicines at 15%, arguing the current rules shut out lower-income patients. In a question submitted to Health Minister Ana Paula Martins through Parliament on Friday, PS lawmakers said the measure, while a welcome step, raises serious concerns. Observador reported the move.
The socialists say the arrangement leaves patients covering roughly 85% of the price of expensive drugs, which they describe as beyond the reach of many low- and middle-income households. They also object to the list of doctors allowed to prescribe under the scheme.
Why it matters
The dispute goes to the heart of how Portugal's National Health Service (SNS) delivers treatment for a chronic disease. Obesity medicines are costly, and a 15% reimbursement rate — the lowest tier in the system — means the state pays a small share. According to Observador, the PS argues this design effectively limits access by income rather than by clinical need.
The party's questions also touch on fairness across the country. If only certain hospital-based teams can prescribe, patients outside those units may struggle to obtain treatment at all. The PS wants the Government to explain how it will guarantee equal access nationwide.
Prescribing limited to hospital obesity teams
Under the current rules, only endocrinologists, internal medicine specialists and paediatricians who formally belong to a hospital-based Multidisciplinary Obesity Team (EMO) — and whose prescribing is charged to that unit's cost centre — may write these prescriptions. The PS asks why other specialists in the same fields working elsewhere in the SNS are excluded.
The party also challenges the exclusion of general practice and family medicine specialists. It argues these are the doctors who see patients regularly, so barring them raises doubts about whether the policy is coherent. The socialists suggest prescription could instead follow defined clinical criteria, coordinated with multidisciplinary teams.
The PS further asks whether the Government is willing to amend the decree before it takes effect, so that family doctors could prescribe and the requirement to charge prescriptions to an EMO cost centre could be dropped.
Requests for the clinical basis and rollout details
The socialists want the ministry to set out the clinical and technical reasoning behind both the 15% rate and the exclusion of other specialists, including family doctors, from reimbursed prescribing. They ask whether the Portuguese Medical Association, its relevant specialty college and the Portuguese Association of General and Family Medicine were consulted.
Observador reports that the PS is also seeking practical information: how many Local Health Units currently run an operating Multidisciplinary Obesity Team, and how many doctors are authorised to prescribe under the scheme. The party asks what waiting time is expected for a first appointment and how territorial equity will be ensured given the decree's criteria.
A further question concerns continuity. The PS asks what happens to patients after 12 months of reimbursement, given that obesity is a chronic condition, and whether continued support is planned for those who meet treatment goals.
The Government has not yet responded publicly to the questions. Watch for the Health Ministry's answer in Parliament and for any move to amend the decree before it comes into force.
