I am dismayed and disappointed to find that our minister of health is planning to bring into effect a new method for the purchasing of pharmaceuticals for seniors, over the age of 65 years.
You need to be mindful of the fact that many of the seniors have saved and looked after their finances so they might be able to enjoy their retirement years.
We did not receive fancy severance packages, or bailouts, or bonuses, but worked hard, and long, for the money we have accumulated.
Now, the new system will continue to drain our savings and will cause much hardship for many seniors just entering the system, and the rest of us who are on a fixed income.
The system we now enjoy would seem to be working satisfactorily, and I question why there is the need to take the monies from seniors. Is this, perhaps, a method to recoup the monies that has been lost to the government by cancelling the health-care premiums for Albertans?
I for one, and also believe you will find a good number of other seniors will stop taking their medications in order to avoid spending their money on the drugs they will need.
Then, as we seniors become ill, we might need to be hospitalized, and the costs of hospitalization will more than increase the cost of a senior’s health care in this province.
I would remind you that many of the seniors are the ones who carved out the roads, the railroads, the small towns and villages, working as volunteers on building recreational facilities, schools, churches, serving on boards, and on programs that have helped to make this province a better place for the generations coming after them.
We may be old and frail, and perhaps living out our lives in a very quiet and simple existence, but you need to remember, as long as we can hold a pencil and mark an “X,” we will do so.
Your draconian methods will be remembered, come election time!
I am urging all persons from Central Alberta to write to the “boss” of our province, if they are in agreement with my comments!
Doreen Sturla Scott
Lacombe