Drug program must be expanded and publicized

The Leader of the province’s New Democrats says government must aggressively market their prescription drug program and make changes to include a larger portion of the population in order to achieve their goal of 97,000 participants.

“I was very disconcerted to hear this week that the use of prescription drug programs is lower than forecasted when the programs were brought in,” said Michael. “This says to me that government must do a better job of letting people know these programs exist and assist them in availing of them.”

“Those in charge of income support and all MHA’s should be making their constituents aware that assistance with drug costs is available.”

Michael also suggests a large scale public marketing campaign may be necessary to get the word out and urged government to eliminate some of the red tape that exists in accessing these programs.

“Government needs to understand that many people who access these programs are not equipped to deal with the hurdles associated with getting accepted.”

She says the recent and future minimum wage increases are eliminating some people’s eligibility by placing them above the qualification threshold which is too low to begin with.

“The programs as they exist have a very low income cut-off and co-pay amounts that are far too high,” said Michael. “People earning minimum wage are by no means in a position to afford the full cost of prescription drugs, so it does not make sense to disqualify these people because they were granted a much needed raise,”

“I hope the Minister is genuinely committed to addressing these issues during pre-budget consultations as he has publicly stated.” said Michael. “I would also urge the government to put any savings from the prescription drug program into an expanded drug program for seniors.”