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A Basque Government decree that came into force July 1st challenged an Spanish Government measure under which patients in Spain will have to pay varying amounts for prescriptions depending on their income.

The Basque Govt. decree establishes that Basque pensioners won't have to pay for the 10 percent of the medicines depending on their income and that active Basques will pay for just 40 percent of the cost of the prescription, and not more depending on their income.

Under Spain's co-payment system, the public will pay varying amounts for prescriptions depending on their income. Spaniards pensioners will have to pay for more than 40 percent if their yearly income is more than 18.000 euros.

Patients in Spain will also have to pay the full price for some prescription medicines under a new measure to cut healthcare costs.

This measure approved by the Spanish Government will come into effect in August and will apply to 425 drugs for "minor ailments", including migraines. Patients will have to pay 100 percent of the cost for codeine, some anti-inflammatories and laxatives, among other drugs.

The Spanish government expects to save 458 million euros ($570.53 million) with the new measure to cut state support. This figure is part of 7 billion euros of savings already announced in April.

Spain, in the midst of a painful recession that has left one in four unemployed, has vowed to make a total 45 billion euros of public sector cuts this year. "Some (drug) companies will suffer moderate or serious damage to their turnover, but not including those medicines in the list of excluded drugs would have been illogical and incoherent," Spain's Health Ministry said in a draft document seen by Reuters before the meeting.

The move highlights the growing pressures on healthcare systems in southern Europe, which are buckling under the strain of austerity. In Greece, pharmacies are struggling with a tangle of unpaid bills and state hospitals are running out of some medicines.