Fate of Ontario Drug Benefit could define federal election
My bet for 2019 is that Premier Doug Ford is going to define the next federal election. But it won’t be by smoking the carbon tax. Rather, his government is likely to gut the Ontario Drug Benefit seniors’ program. How the federal Liberals and NDP respond to this challenge will define their parties’ visions for the country and determine the election results.
The Ontario Drug Benefit plan includes a variety of programs for different recipients and for certain drugs. But seniors use more than half the ODB’s $6 billion budget. Low income seniors and residents of long-term care institutions pay nothing for their drugs except $2 or less per prescription. The other 90 per cent of seniors pay as little as their deductible of $100 per year and a few dollars for each prescription.
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