Article content continued

The program is for seniors, Buick said in a Tuesday email. He said no other province covers medication of non-seniors through a seniors’ drug program. He also said the program cost has been rising by eight per cent each year, which is unsustainable.

Surprise to families

However, some of the people who currently qualify for program coverage say the government hasn’t communicated upcoming changes clearly.

Heather Waldie, 63, is living with metastasized cancer. She appeared at an Opposition NDP news conference in Edmonton on Tuesday to call on the government to reverse the program cut.

“This was a huge emotional hit on my husband and my family that we are no longer supported by these benefits that we have been covered by since I retired seven years ago,” Waldie said.

None of her friends or pharmacists had heard about the coming changes until she told them, she said. If government is changing eligibility, people with existing coverage should be grandfathered in, she said.

Otherwise, families face uncertainty about whether expensive pharmaceuticals will be covered by other plans. Some insurance companies will not pay for drugs for pre-existing health conditions.

“You are targeting a demographic that is a lower-income population that may not have a pension — that has related drug costs due to age,” Waldie said. “This is unfair and this affects all of us.”

The cut also disproportionately affects women, she said, many of whom are younger than their senior citizen husbands.