Cornwall ON – Earth Day Festivities were marred in London Ontario when protesting Pharmacists and supporters marred an appearance by Health Minister Deb Matthews and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.
The Liberal government has banned about $750 million in annual fees paid to pharmacies by generic drug companies to stock their products, saying Ontario has much higher generic drug costs than other provinces and the change will cut costs by 50% for consumers, employers and government drug programs.
Pharmacy chains such as Shoppers Drug Mart say the move will force them to cut hours, free delivery and patient consultations and services. It could also mean the closing of small pharmacies, pharmacists say.
The province is offering pharmacies $150 million to cover the costs of existing and new services.
Matthews told reporters later she’s willing to negotiate how much money pharmacists get to cover expanded services.
Is it me or what does the Pharmacy question have to do with Earth Day? Debate is important in any democracy, but what do the kids who attended the Earth Day event and lost a chance to plant a tree with the Premier done to warrant this sort of behavior?
Tackling issues with the medicare system isn’t going to be easy for any political solution. The reality is that there need to be cuts to waste; scrutiny to how monies are spent; changes to the system and changes to who gets what and why.
Maybe these cuts to pharmacies are a good first step; maybe it’s just politics, but the bottom line is that the spending line is going in a better direction for taxpayers in this instance.
It’s a shame that more people don’t protest unless it’s about cash in pocket as is the case with the pharmacists. It’s a shame that more people don’t care enough about the way billions of our tax dollars are being spent in the medicare system on over inflated management salaries and positions while sending patients miles away from their homes for treatments that should be available regionally if not locally.
No, we need more protests, not less, and we need them by the people that actually pay the bills.
What do you think Ontario and Canada? Post your comments below.
please visit our sponsors:
VERY SHORT SIGHTED ARTICLE – DO SOME RESEARCH FIRST, THEN WRITE SOMETHING INTELLIGENT.
Well Joe you are entitled to your opinion. Welcome to the Cornwall Free News.
Hey Joe Public, whats short sighted about it? Please elaborate. Seems to me just to be a general post to me.