Introduction. At the beginning of January 2012 the new reimbursement law (concerning medicines, foods for special medical purposes and medical devices) was introduced in Poland. In experts’ opinion, incorporated changes related to reimbursement system in Poland turned out to be crucial and were one of the most important reforms in the Polish health care system over the past few years. Aim. To answer the question whether the new reimbursement act met the expectations concerning reimbursement and health needs of the society by increasing access to treatment. In this study, we take a retrospective attempt to identify the effects of the act and on this basis we want to propose directions for its amendment. Methods. The study was conducted on a group of 900 randomly selected respondents who are the direct recipients of the new reimbursement act. A study was conducted using a specially designed anonymous questionnaire consisting of five questions, three of them were closed questions and two of them were open. Results. The vast majority of respondents believes that since the introduction of the new law, patients often forgo the purchase of prescription drugs. The majority of answered negatively about the merits of the reimbursement of active substances which are at the same dose available in Rx and OTC products as well. The active substance which respondents most frequently pointed out as unnecessarily reimbursed was ibuprofenum, loperamidum and ranitidinum. Conclusions. It is worth noting that the three years of the functioning of the new reimbursement act do not fully met the expectations of the society. Despite the decrease in prices of some medicines, their general availability has deteriorated. In spite of the fact that since the introduction of the new reimbursement act innovative medicines are covered by public funding, our study confirms that the needs of patients are much greater and medicines should be more available for all patients, but especially for chronically ill.

Key words: social expectations, economic availability, Reimbursement Act.