OBJECTIVES: At the end of 2006, there was an important reform in the Hungarian pharmaceutical market, including serious changes in the health insurance reimbursement of medicines. The aim of our study is to analyze the changes in the Hungarian health insurance pharmaceutical budget between 2006-2009. METHODS: Data were derived from the nationwide administrative dataset of the National Health Insurance Fund Administration (OEP), the only health care financing agency in Hungary. We analyzed the changes of the pharmaceutical budget between 2006-2009. Results are given in Hungarian Forint (HUF), US dollars (USD) and Euro (EUR). The annual average currency exchange rates were applied according to the data of the Central Bank of Hungary. RESULTS: In the first year, the Hungarian pharmaceutical budget decreased from 388.7 billion HUF (2006) to 323.6 billion HUF (2007) by 65.1 billion HUF (16.7 %). This decrease was a bit moderate both in Euro (0.18 billion EUR, 12.4 %) and in USD dollar (0.1 billion USD, 4.7 %) due to the stronger Hungarian currency. For 2009, the pharmaceutical budget slightly increased compared to 2007 up to 343.2 billion HUF which resulted in a decrease from 2006 to 2009 by 45.5 billion HUF (11.7 %). The decrease between 2006-2009 was more significant both in Euro (0.25 billion EUR, 16.8 %) and in USD dollar (0.15 billion USD, 8.1 %) due to the weakened Hungarian currency. CONCLUSIONS: Due to the reform of the whole Hungarian pharmaceutical market, the Hungarian health insurance pharmaceutical budget significantly decreased between 2006-2009. This decrease was moderate in EUR or USD between 2006-2007, however between 2006-2009 it became higher as the Hungarian currency weakened compared to EUR or USD during the world economic crisis.