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1.
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Patients
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- You benefit because
you'll get better health care.
- Every dollar saved by
lowering the price of generic drugs is going right back into the health care
system to benefit all Ontarians.
- New prescription drugs will
continue to be added to the Ontario Drug Benefit Program's formulary. That
means seniors and Ontarians on social assistance will have access to more
drugs.
- Savings will also go
towards initiatives like increasing the quality of our hospitals, hiring more
nurses, strengthening our home care system, or reducing wait times in our
emergency rooms.
- That's why groups like
the Ontario Nurses Association and the Ontario Hospital Association commended
the government for taking action to reduce the cost of generic drugs.
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2.
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Seniors and Individuals with Ontario Drug Benefits
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- You benefit because
you'll have access to more prescription drugs.
- The government is going
to use some of the savings it achieves through these changes to expand the
number of drugs on the formulary.
- Ontario has already added
over 150 new brand name and generic drugs and over 39 cancer drugs to the
formulary since 2006. With these new changes, it plans to add even more.
- That's why groups like
CARP, the Canadian Cancer Society and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of
Ontario think these reforms are a step in the right direction.
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3.
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Individuals Who Pay Out-of-Pocket
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- You benefit because
you'll pay less for your generic drugs.
- How much less? Here's an
example:
A
45-year-old man who pays for Venlafaxine (a generic drug used to treat
depression and anxiety) and takes a 150 mg dose once a day would save more than
$330 every year once the reforms take full effect.
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4.
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Employees with Private Plans
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- You benefit because you
may get access to a better health insurance plan or pay lower premiums for
your current plan.
- These reforms should
allow private insurers to make their drug plans more comprehensive - they may
use the savings to add new drugs to their formularies or invest more money in
things like health promotion and disease prevention.
- The reforms could also
allow private insurers to lower their premiums, making your health insurance
more affordable. This could have the added benefit of enabling some employers,
who haven't been able to afford a health plan for their workers, to start
offering their employees a health plan.
- It's for these reasons
that the following groups support the reforms:
o
Ontario Federation of
Labour
o Service Employees
International Union
o Canadian Vehicle
Manufacturers' Association
o Canadian Health and Life
Insurance Association
o The Ontario Hospital
Association
o The Ontario Teachers' Insurance Plan
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5.
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Pharmacists
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- You benefit because your
pharmacy will be fairly compensated for the patient care you provide.
- The government knows that
pharmacists want to use their skills to the fullest. Pharmacists are
highly-trained health professionals and an integral part of the province's
health care system.
- The government is
investing an additional $100 million in 2010/11 to pay for the professional
services pharmacists provide to patients. While the new professional services
are being introduced, pharmacies will be paid a transition fee for every
prescription dispensed under Ontario's
drug programs (excluding Long-term Care and Methadone):
o
$1/claim from July 2010
to March 2011
o $0.65/claim from April
2011 to March 2012
o $0.35/claim for April
2012 to March 2013
o $0 as of April 1, 2013
- Dispensing fees will
increase by $1 (from $7 to $8) for prescriptions filled through Ontario's drug
programs. The increase will be higher for rural pharmacies as described
below.
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6.
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Rural Pharmacies
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- You benefit from an
increase in dispensing fees of up to $5 per prescription filled under Ontario's drug
programs. The different dispensing fees will be paid based on the distance
between pharmacies as follows:
o Less than 5 km and more than two
pharmacies in a town = will stay at new level of $8
o 5 - 10 km between pharmacies = $9
o 10 - 25 km between pharmacies = $10
o
More than 25 km between pharmacies = $12
- The government is doing this because it
knows how important it is to ensure that the people who live in these regions
have a full-service pharmacy, close to home.
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7.
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Taxpayers
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- You benefit because
you'll get better value for your tax dollars.
- By eliminating so-called "professional
allowances", the government is:
o making the drug system
more accountable
o increasing direct
payments to pharmacists for the valued services they provide
o lowering the cost of
generic drugs and making more prescription drugs available to Ontario's patients and
seniors
o supporting access to
pharmacy services in rural communities
o saving taxpayers millions.
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Communities
