ChristyClark attacks seniors pharma-care

4 posts / 0 new

Sat, 2011-11-26 09:35

E.P.Houle

I recently transitioned from being a worker that had an industrial accident(sawdust inhallation) to being a senior(federal retirement) and now the cost of my meds so that I can breath and still contribute to my community has been jacked to the point of Christy standing on my throat. Why is no one talking about this attack on our parents? It's because the 'noise' of all their other attacks on our civility drown out concerns for mere gray heads. Christy needs a short one way ride to Bellingham.

brian

Regions:

Sat, 2011-11-26 10:02

E.P.Houle

I co-payed my entire life and now that I'm too old to hold a hammer you want me to co-pay again so that some banker-cum-insurance co-venture asshole can still profit while the source of his wealth goes down the drain; my enemies, your enemies, can't do math. It won't be the first time I put Lt, John Pike out to pasture.Christy too, the 'double fall girl', if you see a storm coming(as a conservative) throw Christy under the wheels. I'm not amused.

Sat, 2011-11-26 14:55

Sineed

Are you over 65, Brian? I'm an Ontario pharmacist who recently spent a couple of years in a graduate-level pharmacy program, and one of the professors said that BC had the most generous pharmacare in the country, particularly with respect to cancer drugs. Ontario is apparently the crummiest.

Can you provide some specifics about what they don't cover? In general, I feel that delisting drugs is "penny-wise pound-foolish" on the part of governments because people who can't afford their meds end up getting sicker and costing the heatlh care system more.

I am genuinely curious about the pharmacare situation in BC and the impact of this new premier (google didn't help me much).

Sat, 2011-11-26 17:43

theleftyinvestor

Indeed, I too am curious about the specifics. Did your costs increase because a specific drug was delisted?

I find BC's Pharmacare formula to be relatively well-designed. For drugs that are covered, everyone has their drug costs capped at either 2, 3 or 4% of net income (depending on income band). This was an amazing help for a friend of mine who got Hodgkins Lymphoma. Most of his treatments were done in-hospital, but at one point he was prescribed a bunch of self-adminstered Filgrastim (Neupogen) injections to boost his immune system. These are extraordinarily expensive, running into the tens of thousands. When he brought the prescription to the pharmacy, he reached the cap and only owed a thousand or two - and that was based on the income he used to earn when he had a high-paying job.

Later, Pharmacare sent him more money back because they reassessed his income band due to a job loss that had happened the year before his diagnosis.