Hon. Christine Elliott, Minister of Health

College Park 5th Floor, 777 Bay St, Toronto, ON M7A 2J3

 

Dear Minister Elliott,

 

We are writing to you on behalf of more than 81,000 members of RTOERO, a non-profit organization benefiting education retirees.

 

Over the past weeks, our members have been contacting us with concerns about Ontario’s approach to managing the prescription medication supply. As medications are now generally being limited to a 30-day supply, rather than the more usual supply of 90 or 100 days, it has created hardships for our members – and for many seniors and other at-risk populations. This limitation is sending vulnerable seniors out in public more frequently to pick up their prescriptions. It is also adding a financial burden, because they must pay the dispensing fee each time the prescription is filled.

 

We ask that the government immediately take the following actions:

 

1. Provide instruction to pharmacies to limit the dispensing fee to the same amount that would have been charged for filling the prescription as written. The fee could be paid on the first partial refill or could be divided equally among the partial refills.

 

2. Revise the advice to pharmacists and allow them to return to filling the complete prescription for seniors as soon as possible.

In making these requests to the government, we are aware of the following:

 

• Some pharmacies do provide home delivery, but this is not a consistent service. Issues of mobility and access to transportation are significant barriers for many seniors and may prevent them from accessing their prescriptions in a timely way.

 

• There are costs incurred by pharmacies with every prescription dispensed, particularly the costs associated with processes that ensure the accuracy and safety of medications dispensed. Simply transferring the financial burden from seniors onto pharmacists is not an equitable approach, and we are looking to the government for a better solution.