Province to End Deal with Pharmacies on Generic Drugs
Wednesday, February 29, 2012 @ 2:58 PM
Prince George, B.C.- The Province has announced it is moving towards reducing the cost of generic drugs.Minister of Health, Mike deJong has announced the Province is ending its generic drug pricing agreement with the B.C. Pharmacy Association and the Canadian Association of Chain Drug Stores as of April 1st. The agreement is being terminated because the Province never received the estimated savings promised under the agreement. The Province expects to recoup those losses.
deJong has asked staff to put together legislation that will control, and further lower the price of generic drugs. That legislation is expected to be introduced during the spring session of the legislature.
At the moment, generic drugs cost 40% of the price on brand name drugs. That rate is to drop to 35% on April 2nd and the legislation will aim to reduce the price to 25% of the cost of brand name drugs by April 1st of 2013.
It is expected the change will generate major savings in the health care system. Those dollars will be reinvested in the system to keep PharmaCare affordable for lower-income B.C. seniors and families, increase funding for pharmacy services such as medication management and to protect rural and remote pharmacies.
Comments
I must say, as a prescription holder of several medications due to disabling health issues, this is very good news for me and my family!
An excellent move by the BC Government.
Too bad that some level of government couldn’t act in the same way to control the monetary abuse the consumer is subjected to by the large oil companies and the continued inflation of the price of gasoline and diesel.
So lets get this straight.
The Liberal gov’t signed an agreement that was suppose to give us savings, but those saving were never realized.
When was this agreement signed?
Who signs any agreement that promises savings that are never realized?
If I sign an agreement for x amount of dollars, thats what I agreed to pay.
How does it work that the agreement you sign for x amount of dollars turns out to be a different amount of dollars than that which you signed an agreement for?
Why is this all of a sudden a priority for this Liberal gov’t?
Oh right, we’re getting close to an election!
Insert head banging wall emoticon here—>
This is such an incedible win for everyone, I think its just great that Pharmeceutical companies don’t have a monopoly over prescription medication that a hell of a lot of people depend on, some of those drugs save their lives.
Congrats, government, you done a good thing!
“How does it work that the agreement you sign for x amount of dollars turns out to be a different amount of dollars than that which you signed an agreement for?”
You mean you never miscalculated anything?
They agreed to pay a certain percentage of the generic drug price. I doubt they paid more than that to the pharmacists.
They simply thought they would gain more than they did.
Sort of the reverse of the HST it seems. In that case I thought I read some time ago that they were making more money than they expected from the new sales tax profile.
Notice the last sentence in the article. “It is expected the change will generate major savings in the health care system.”
It seems to me they expected savings the last time around and it did not happen. So, when will we find out that it will work this time?
I must agree with you Dragonmaster. Do you think the Libs found that they couldn’t aquire more cash from their sweet deal so they decided to pull the plug.
http://www.health.gov.bc.ca/pharmacare/suppliers/psa.pdf
There is the Agreement. I read it and I think I know why they did not realize the savings they thought they would make.
I will check it out later to see if I ma right in my suspicion.
Go head and read it and see why you think they did not realize the savings they though they would.
So I wonder whose family died in the Liberal Party because he/she couldn’t afford the meds. Nothing good comes from the Liberal Party unless it’s accidental.
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