someone explain Apotheke to me like I have not read a paper in years

Trying to get a straight answer on this: someone explain Apotheke to me like I have not read a paper in years.

How to compare prices across borders without misleading yourself.

Normalise the pack size first. Presentations differ between member states and a headline figure for one pack is not comparable to another. Then separate reimbursed from private prices, which are set by entirely different mechanisms. Then note the dispensing fee structure, which is nationally regulated.

When members here have done all three, the interesting finding has consistently been that variation between pharmacies within a country is often as large as the variation between countries — which makes the cross-border shopping most of these threads are really about far less attractive than it looks.

The structure that makes this board make sense, once.

Marketing authorisation for these products is granted centrally, which is why the same product exists across the union. Everything after that — whether it is reimbursed, on what criteria, at what price, in what pack size, dispensed under what margin rules — is decided nationally.

So "is it covered" has twenty-seven answers, "what does it cost" has twenty-seven answers plus within-country variation, and only "is it authorised" has one. Almost every argument on this board is two people answering different questions from different countries, both correctly.

Asked in my own language at a local pharmacy and got a clearer answer in five minutes than a fortnight of forum reading.

Screenshot none of this. Read the whole thread, including the parts where I am told I am wrong.