Liberals rethink seniors’ drug plan

Opposition blasts premier for backtracking on raising threshold for deductible

Thestar.com
Feb. 29, 2016
By Robert Benzie

Concerned for her Liberal government’s electoral health, Premier Kathleen Wynne is getting a second opinion on a budget proposal that would have forced most seniors to pay more for prescription medicines.
Wynne stunned the legislature on Monday by admitting Finance Minister Charles Sousa’s remedy for revamping the way taxpayer-subsidized drugs are dispensed may not be ready for public consumption.

“We’re going to look carefully at this regulation that is out for consultation and if we didn’t get it right then we will make a change in terms of that threshold,” the premier said under questioning from NDP Leader Andrea Horwath in the house.

“The objective was to make sure that more seniors had free access to prescription medication. If we didn’t get that threshold right, we will correct that in the process of the consultation and the regulation,” she said.

Horwath was in no mood to take yes for an answer.

“This premier put out a budget threatening seniors with nearly doubling their drug costs - and now she’s trying to back away from that,” the NDP chief thundered.

In last Thursday’s budget, Sousa announced most seniors would see annual deductibles for taxpayer-subsidized prescription drugs jump 70 per cent – to $170 from $100 as of August.

At the same time, co-payments would rise by $1 to $7.11 per prescription for seniors above a low-income threshold of $19,300 for singles and $32,300 for couples.

Increasing those thresholds from the current level of $16,018 for singles and $24,175 for couples would also mean an additional 173,000 retirees would no longer pay any deductible and their co-payment would drop to $2 per prescription.

But raising the cut-off could also hurt the Liberals with many older Ontarians.

Mindful that seniors tend to vote more than any other age group, Wynne, who defended the change last week, appeared to have had little choice but to tell the house that “if we didn’t get the threshold right ... then we will change that.”

Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown said the looming Liberal flip-flop underscores his party’s contention that the budget “hurts seniors.”

“The notion that a senior making more than $19,000 is going to be affluent or rich is ridiculous. This helps a small amount of seniors, but hurts the vast, vast majority,” said Brown.

“It’s a sign that they didn’t do their research properly. If the government is going to change that threshold then I’ll acknowledge them, but simply considering it is not enough,” he said.

NDP MPP Jagmeet Singh said it’s thanks to pressure from New Democrats that the Grits are reconsidering.

“We’re seeing now that there are some chinks in the armour of this very flawed ... policy now that they’re seeming to backtrack,” said Singh (Bramalea-Gore-Malton).

“It’s a positive sign.”

Wynne pointed out the budget will save many seniors $170 because there will soon be free shingles vaccinations for those between 65 and 70, the age range where the viral infection is likeliest to hit.

But that measure did not go far enough for CARP, the organization that advocates for seniors, which warned raising the low-income threshold would have “a significant negative impact on many” older Ontarians.

The province will spend $51.8 billion on health care in 2016-17 with $4.5 billion on various public drugs programs, which cover around 3,800 different medications.