The fight isn’t over to protect some seniors from higher medication costs.
Sam Denhaan, president of Central Alberta Council on Aging, said the province’s announcement this week to delay its unpopular proposed changes to the seniors drug plan doesn’t mean the plan is put to rest.
So there’s still “work to be done,” Denhaan said.
The plan, which would divide seniors into those who pay for drugs and those who don’t, will no longer take effect on July 1 as scheduled.
Health and Wellness Minister Gene Zwozdesky said more time is needed to get it right and address necessary legislative and regulatory changes.
“Gene Zwozdesky has a way more diplomatic way of saying things — not that the underlying ideology has changed at all,” said Denhaan.
In December 2008, many seniors denounced then-Health Minister Ron Liepert’s plan, which would have made higher-income seniors pay a premium.
Under the plan, single seniors with an annual taxable income of $12,000, or a senior family with a combined income of $24,000 or less, would pay nothing for drugs.
Singles with an income between $12,001 and $24,000, or a family with $24,001 to $48,000, would pay 20 per cent of the cost of each prescription, to a maximum of $15.
Single seniors with $24,001 or more in income, and senior families with $48,001 or more, would have to pay a monthly premium based on their income, as well as the partial cost of prescriptions.
Right now, seniors pay 30 per cent of the cost of each prescription to a maximum of $25.
Red Deer senior Shirley Challoner said universal health care is for everyone so seniors shouldn’t be forced to pay more for medication.
What happens if they can’t afford their prescribed medication, she asked.
“There would be seniors who would stop taking required medications and that’s going to implicate the health-care system,” Challoner said.
She is thrilled that government has finally started listening to the public, but the province must go further and consult with seniors on drug coverage.
Denhaan said seniors need to continue to be “front and centre” to demand a universal drug plan.
“It is better to share the burden over the whole income tax system than it is to penalize people at a certain level of income,” he said.
Unfortunately, the delay in implementing the new plan probably has more to do with getting votes, Denhaan said.
“(Conservatives) have a lot of concern about the next election, which is a year and a half away.”
szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com