Medigap overview

 What Is Medigap? This is supplemental health insurance that provides coverage that is not paid for by original Medicare. It is important to understand that Medigap does not apply to Medicare Advantage plans. Medigap pays for any leftover costs after Medicare is applied. This usually covers deductibles and co-payments. Medigap

Want to save on your prescription drugs? Here are some tips.

 Whether you are experiencing a short-term illness or a chronic condition, doctors most likely turn to prescribe you medication. This can either be an anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, a blood thinner, or any other drug type. However, it is vital to know that many prescription drugs tend to carry a hefty price

A National Pharmacare Program is the right thing, say nurses and health care professionals

 by Vicki McKenna, RN The fall 2019 federal election campaign featured a bold proposal from the Liberal federal government to finally include prescription drugs in our much-loved public health care system. Nurses and health care professionals across Canada are among many who have called for such a program. For two

How to save money buying prescription drugs in Canada

 You might need medication to get through every day, but unfortunately, that isn’t cheap. Here’s how to save money on prescription medication. According to a recent study, almost 1 million Canadians admit to giving up essentials like food and heat in order to be able to afford prescription drugs. Are

Why pay three times for drug coverage when you could pay once? Pharmacare should be an election issue

 Ask any Canadian whether they’d pay three times for something if they could pay only once. It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out the answer. This federal election, voters are faced with this very choice. We can continue with a system that forces us to pay three times for

National Pharmacare Makes Sense, So Why Don’t We Have It?

 Every developed country in the world with universal healthcare also provides universal coverage of prescription drugs. Well, except Canada. A national public drug plan, or Pharmacare as it’s more commonly called, has been in the works since the 1960s, when the Royal Commission on Health Services recommended its introduction following

Combating the Over-medication of Seniors

 Time to accelerate the rate of change. The case of ‘too much medication’ in Canadian seniors is finally starting to be recognized for the serious problem it has become.  Seniors are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of too many prescription drugs because aging affects their ability to process medications.

Canadians Should Modernize not Privatize Medicare

 National Medicare Week has just passed, buoyed with optimism as a fresh-faced government takes the reins in Ottawa – elected partly on a promise of renewed federal leadership on health care.  Yet these “sunny ways” are overcast by recent developments at the provincial level that entrench and legitimize two-tier care. Saskatchewan

Pharmacare is for Kids Too

 Written by Avram Denburg and Steve Morgan You are the parent of a sick child. You have a limited budget and you must decide to buy the medicine the doctor prescribed for your child or provide food and shelter for your family instead. What do you do? Sadly this dilemma is one too

The Other Drug Problem in Canada’s Cities

 How Canada’s piecemeal pharmaceutical drug insurance coverage costs Canadian cities—and taxpayers—plenty Canada's cities face a number of problems: traffic, housing, crime, infrastructure—the list goes on. Prescription drugs are one of these problems—one that is costing local governments as much as $500 million every year. How so? Municipalities, like most employers,

Compulsory insurance does not create affordable access to prescription drugs

 By Steve Morgan New Brunswick has opportunity to reduce pharmaceutical drug prices dramatically with a single payer system. The Liberal government of New Brunswick appears to be stepping back from the brink of mandatory prescription drug insurance. And so they should. The Conservatives had pitched the drug plan as a

Inconsistency in the Cost of and Accessibility to Prescription Medications Drugs

 Canada’s health care system faces some daunting challenges. One of the crucial inconsistencies is the variation of access to prescription medications across the country. Like all other health-care services and products, prescription medications have a monetary value and are subject to inflation and the effects of Canada’s changing demographics. Let