Families, seniors to pay more for prescriptions
An increase in overall health-care funding, more money for regional health authorities and rising prescription costs were just a few of the items announced by the provincial government in its 2016-17 budget.
Health care once again takes more than one-third of the budget with $5.17 billion, an increase of $57.4 million over the previous year’s budget.
Despite the increases, seniors and families will be paying more for prescriptions under the Children’s and Seniors’ Drug Plan.
The government announced that prescription costs will rise by $5 per prescription, to a maximum of $25 per prescription.
According to government documents, the increase will make the plans more sustainable, saving $6.75 million in 2016-17 and $9 million annually going forward.
“Drug costs are rising on average by $10 million a year,” Health Minister Dustin Duncan said. “We have not seen an increase since 2012 and there has been increasing drug prices and inflation since that time.”
An estimated 66,000 families and 120,000 seniors will be impacted by the increase, costing families $20 a year and seniors $80 a year on average, according to the government’s numbers.
Several programs still exist to help seniors with prescription costs, including programs designed to assist low-income seniors.
The decision to raise prescription costs was met with apprehension by the NDP.
“What I hear most from folks, seniors and others, is the impact of drug costs,” said Danielle Chartier, the Opposition health critic. “It will have an impact. Think about seniors with multiple prescriptions who have no ability to make more money.”’
Dr. Oscar Rivera, a retired pediatrician, also feels that it puts extra pressure on seniors.
“What they fail to realize is that the seniors are on a fixed income and that when there is an increase, it impacts their standard of living,” Rivera said. “It can be $5 or it can be more than that, but it is a continuous problem.”
A $16.97-million increase goes to the Saskatchewan Prescription Drug Plan to help deal with rising drug costs, but the Supplementary Health, Family Health Benefits and Saskatchewan Aids to Independent Living programs (which help with medical services for low-income families and others) lose just over $2 million in funding.
“It is really based on utilization depending on the families eligible for the program,” Duncan said. “We look at historical trends and make an estimate.”
The government also increased funding by $9.8 million to the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency to provide compensation for 15 new drugs approved in 2015-16.
Regional health authorities saw an overall increase of 2.3 per cent in funding compared to last year, bringing the funding total to $3.38 billion.
“The money will primarily go to the salary increases. There is an inflation adjustment that is quite useful and we will use that to deal with the challenges we face with demographic changes,” said Keith Dewar, CEO of the Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region.
The government has touted an investment in hospital infrastructure as a priority in this budget. In total, $239.9 million was allocated for various health-care facilities, including just over $14 million for infrastructure upgrades at Regina’s General and Pasqua hospitals, as well as Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon.
The Regina upgrades will be for electrical systems and Saskatoon’s hospital will see heating and cooling upgrades.
“We know that two-thirds of health facilities were built before 1970 and there is a lot of work to catch up on,” Duncan said.
Provincially, $70.5 million ($20 million more than last year) has been allocated to reduce surgery wait times and the Saskatoon Health Region will receive $10.2 million for pediatric and neonatal services.
“What this does, is it gives us the injection we need,” said Saskatoon Health Region CEO Dan Florizone. “The good thing about this budget is it’s aligned with our priorities.”