Women on Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) could be in line to save around €30-€70.
Free HRT has not been ruled out by the Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe.
Green Party senator Pauline O’ Reilly will bring a motion in the Seanad calling on the Government to make HRT free for all women prescribed the treatment for menopausal symptoms.
Read more:64 per cent of women say menopause has damaged their sex life, according to new study
The health service has €100m for new developments next year.
Minister Donohoe said there is “space for new measures” and Health Minister Stephen Donnelly will be talking to him at the end of the year about the timing of new initiatives for next year.
Senator O’Reilly told RTÉ's Morning Ireland that she will introduce a Bill on the motion in the Seanad on Wednesday, adding that she anticipates there will be “full Government support”.
The cost of making HRT freely available to every woman would be €10-20 million per year, including those already receiving the therapy on a medical card, Ms O’Reilly explained.
She added this was actually “very little cost” to the health service as it would prevent very serious symptoms in the long run, such as depression, osteoporosis, diabetes, which would cost more to treat.
“Women are impacted more by a cost-of-living crisis in terms of period products, in terms of higher costs for women's contraception, in terms of HRT. So let's now break down those barriers," she said.
“For too long in Ireland we hadn't talked about it [menopause], but also for too long we've put women's health to the side.
“I think to be fair to Minister for Health [Stephen] Donnelly, he is addressing all of these issues around IVF and free menopause hubs, but I think that this is the next stage now, and I would be hopeful that there'd be a recognition that prevention is the best thing that we can do in terms of health care."
Get the latest RSVP headlines straight to your inbox for free by signing up to our newsletter
Join our new WhatsApp community! Click this LINK to receive your daily dose of RSVP Live content. We also treat our community members to wonderful competitions, promotions, along with great stories. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice