Petition for equity in access to treatment for patients with celiac disease: reimbursement of alternative gluten-free food products to conventional ones.
To read, sign and share: https://peticaopublica.com/pview.aspx?pi=ApoioDietaSemGluten
Celiac disease is a chronic autoimmune disease, which currently affects around 15,000 to 20,000 Portuguese people. The cause of the disease is known: as gluten ingestion. This event triggers the immediate formation of autoantibodies that attack various organs of the body, therefore having a damaging multiorgan implication, even without symptoms perceptible by the patient. The only treatment is a strictly gluten-free diet. Compliance with this implies the exclusive consumption of gluten-free food products, without any exception, throughout the lives of these patients. Ingestion of a dose of gluten as low as 20 ppm (equivalent to a breadcrumb) constitutes a danger for these patients. The relationship between T-cell lymphoma and duodenal adenocarcinoma (rapidly progressing neoplasms) and refractory celiac disease (patients with active autoantibodies) has already been established. Gluten is found in 3 cereals: wheat, rye and barley. It is therefore present in the main foods that form the basis of the Portuguese diet: bread, pasta, cakes, and cookies, among others. Similar gluten-free foods as alternatives to these cost 3 to 10 times more than regular foods (with gluten). The estimated average monthly cost of a gluten-free diet is about 40% higher than the average monthly cost of a conventional diet.
Celiac disease has the particularity of not requiring medicines or support products for its management, but rather food, purchased in non-specialized commercial spaces. In Europe some mechanisms allow access to these alternative foods by celiac patients at prices similar to those of conventional foods (for example, commercial spaces have 2 different prices for these gluten-free foods and when purchasing them, the reduced price for holders of a disease identification card).
The Portuguese State’s two current support measures for these patients do not sufficiently respond to their real needs. On the one hand, the disability bonus associated with the Social Security family allowance for children and young people is intended only for this age group, and during a narrow period of their lives, when celiac disease is far from being a disease. exclusively pediatric (in fact, most diagnoses are currently made in adulthood). On the other hand, the possibility of presenting to the IRS the expenses associated with the acquisition of gluten-free foods under the heading of health expenses (currently deductible from collection at 15% of their value, up to a maximum of €1000, per household familiar) is equally insufficient.
In Portugal, a National Health Service that is generally free is recommended, which includes sharing the costs associated with managing and maintaining the health of its residents. Now, the only treatment available for celiac disease is the lifelong obligation to follow a strict diet exclusively based on the ingestion of gluten-free foods, with gluten being present in the conventional foods that form the basis of the Portuguese diet and being the foods Gluten-free alternatives to these are known to be more expensive than conventional ones, it is appropriate that the Portuguese State assumes a contribution to the costs of purchasing gluten-free foods for celiac patients since the diet they practice is an imposition of their disease and not an option. Therefore, the undersigned petition for financial reimbursement of the costs of purchasing gluten-free food products that are alternatives to those containing gluten, in a model similar to that practiced in other European countries.