The government’s decision to remove birth control pills, anti-cholesterol pills and sleeping pills from the basic health insurance package generated fewer savings than expected, the national audit office says.

Scrapping funding for some drugs cut the national medicine bill by just €250m a year between 2008 and 2013, which is only half the estimated savings, the audit office said.

For example, the health ministry had estimated stopping paying for anti-cholesterol pills would save €97m a year, but the actual saving was only €18m.

The government has made numerous changes in the make-up of the basic health insurance package in an effort to cut spending on healthcare.