ABSTRACT
Developed country experiences show that if consumption of prescription drugs does not follow the need distribution, the consequence might be either overutilization, underutilizations, or horizontal inequity. The distribution of pharmaceutical expenses in Turkey shows a steady regressive trend after 2009 under strict pharmaceutical price regulations. However, increasing awareness of the Turkish government regarding high level of pharmaceutical expenses brings on to the table the need to make new financial resource distribution decisions and choose between different policy options. To sum up, consistent with the existing literature, Turkey's inclusive policies harm rather than help much of the population in terms of distribution of pharmaceutical expenditures. Future studies will examine the equity effect of current policy implementations on the pharmaceutical market. To conclude, continuous monitoring of the distributive pattern of pharmaceutical expenditures is essential to ensure equity and better distribution of resources in health services in Turkey.
