I was recently chatting with a friend who has diabetes about the necessity of drugs to keep us going. This friend is retired like me. He was telling me he has to pay for his own medication just so that he can control his disease and stay alive. My mother-in-law, who is in her late 80s, is due for new hearing aids. She worked at home and raised five children and kept her home and family safe and comfortable. Now she’s looking at a $5,000 bill to pay for hearing aids that she and her husband have to pay for.
Another example is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A disease that will not go away, but there is a drug that will make it easier to remain comfortable for (hopefully) quite a few more years that costs over $200 — that’s for 90 tablets, which is 90 days. It doesn’t sound like much but if you’re on a fixed income, it all adds up.
If a senior needs this prescription, plus couple others, and they max out their insurance coverage, they’re on the hook to cover all the costs. Having worked for most of their lives, paying taxes every year, bringing up families and now have to pay for medications that for some, keep them alive and for others it makes their final years more comfortable.
If those hard working, reliable, law abiding folks did not take these medications, most of them would end up in hospitals or specialized care costing our B.C. healthcare system even more than it is costing all of us today.
Now what is bringing all this on is the simple fact that others are getting all their drugs free. In fact, they are even getting their housing free! Now before everyone starts jumping up and down about me being such a redneck (a little bit), I believe that if it’s needed everyone deserves help.
It’s about being fair. There are thousands of seniors that have followed all the rules, but are still getting screwed by not only excessively overpriced drugs but are being ignored by the provincial government by not being treated equally. It’s about $3,000 a year per patient just for pharmacy costs if you have addictions. The government also provides a supplement of up to $500 per year to assist with the cost of counselling or related services.
This just doesn’t fall on the present government but goes back to all previous provincial governments. Over the years, how many seniors have gone without proper medication because they can’t afford it? Yes, if you make so much money you’re supposed to be able to pay for your own… how fair is that. We have been told, for years, to save for our retirement! For what reason, so we have to pay for services that folks who haven’t worked can get for free? Has the government not noticed how costs have risen over the past few years? A lot of seniors live in rental housing and where have those costs gone?
B.C. is experiencing way too many drug overdoses from illegal drugs and something needs to be done about that. Lives being lost because of decisions folks have made is not acceptable and I agree we need to move forward to fix the problem. Some of the forms of help I’m not totally in favour of, as that will only make the process take longer. B.C.’s Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions announced new guidelines for prescribers to provide medications to patients, including home delivery and giving prescriptions through virtual visits. The costs of providing this safe supply will be covered by provincial PharmaCare.
An individual, whether senior or child, who has diabetes has to get a prescription from their doctor to get access to the drugs that will help to make their life better and extend it… and they have to pay for it! A person with COPD has to get a prescription from their doctor to access the drugs and inhaler to help them live more comfortably … and they have to pay for the prescription! Who is eligible to receive a naloxone kit? You do not need a prescription to get Naloxone. There are no restrictions on where naloxone can be sold.
So my point being, let’s treat everyone fairly in the province especially seniors. They have paid their dues. Part of their “prescription” for working hard and following all the rules is to make sure they have as comfortable retirement as possible. They have earned it. Prescriptions are given for a reason, to make lives comfortable or to extend lives. It should not be a case of who gets the biggest headlines.
Let’s hope that someone from the province reads this and gives it some real serious thought. It’s tough enough out there as it is, we don’t need to put more hardships on people that have worked hard all their lives.