New Brunswickers will not be forced to have prescription drug coverage, Health Minister Victor Boudreau announced on Tuesday.

Boudreau introduced amendments to the provincial Prescription and Catastrophic Drug Insurance Act that eliminate the mandatory requirement under Phase 2 of the Progressive Conservatives' plan, which was slated to take effect on April 1.

Health Minister Victor Boudreau says a comprehensive review of the drug plan will be conducted. (CBC) He says the premiums would have been too high for low-income people.

​"This is a temporary solution," pending a comprehensive review, said Boudreau.

The Department of Health will solicit input from stakeholders and explore potential collaboration with other Atlantic provinces on a regional drug plan, he said.

Boudreau could not say how long the review will take, but the new plan will be affordable, he said.

"Our government is committed to reviewing the New Brunswick drug plan to ensure that its costs are reasonable for individuals, its coverage is sufficient and employers are not subject to a required contribution," Boudreau said in a statement.

"Our government will also provide additional premium relief to lower-income individuals to ensure costs, for those that choose to join the New Brunswick drug plan, are fair and reasonable," he said.

Under Phase 2, a family earning $50,000 would have been forced to pay $1,400 per year per adult in premiums, said Boudreau. The lowest premium for a single person was $800.

The government will introduce two new lower premiums — $200 and $400, he said.

The voluntary Phase 1 remains in place, with premiums ranging from $800 to $2,000 per year, based on income, and a 30 per cent co-pay for drugs, to a maximum of $30 per prescription.

Becomes social program

Former health minister Ted Flemming, who introduced the plan, says scrapping the mandatory sign-up creates another problem.

Without everyone paying in, the sustainable plan will become yet another costly social program at taxpayers' expense, said Flemming, who is now an Opposition MLA.

"It sounds good going in, but at the end of the day, they ultimately run out of somebody else's money," he said.

Flemming says government claims about low-income people facing $800-plus mandatory premiums next spring simply aren't true.

He says people who couldn't afford the premiums would have been subsidized under the plan, which he previously referred to as the most important piece of health legislation since the introduction of medicare.

"To parade somebody out who's on minimum wage saying, 'I can't afford this,' well, that person never would have paid anyway," Flemming said.

But there was no subsidy plan in place before the Liberals won the election in September, said Boudreau.

"There was a commitment to look at them, but none of that had actually been done," he said.

Boudreau contends the low enrolment numbers show the plan is not set up properly.

"We were being told this plan was there to address the needs of 150,000 New Brunswickers that were without drug coverage. In fact, to date only 2,400 people have taken the program up," he said.

"That's a pretty clear indication to me that the program is not meeting the needs it was set out for."

The former government had estimated 70,000 families had no drug coverage and were not eligible for other existing provincial coverage for people on social assistance.