Bring reason, compassion
Dear editor: I have just found out that a family’s health and well-being can, and in some cases is, being governed by BC Health Ministry accountants, rather than trained health-care professionals.
My doctor recently prescribed two different prescriptions – one for my wife, and one for myself that are not covered by our extended healthcare plan. When we asked “why not,” we were told that the extended benefits plan uses the BC Pharmacare plan as a standard, and that these two medications are not covered. When I asked why they are not covered, I was told that BC Pharmacare feels that there are OTC options that are just as good. My doctor and my pharmacist do not agree.
If the doctor feels that a medication not covered is, indeed, the correct one, the MD is obliged to complete a specific form and submit it to Pharmacare. This strikes me as a waste of a healthcare professional’s time, and I can’t imagine this decision being made in a timely fashion, and the time involved for a resolution could negatively impact a patient.
If the prescription is written by an MD, that should be the only proof necessary to show it is the proper medication for that patient’s situation or condition. Either the BC Health Ministry trusts the doctors’ judgment – or they don’t.
Guess whose judgement I trust? Health Ministry bean counters, or the medical folks that know me?
This does not seriously affect me, because I am going to pay for the prescription that my doctor feels I need, because I trust my MD’s judgement, but how many people that rely on government assistance of some kind can afford that option, or do they simply not get the proper care because they can’t afford it, or it’s late in arriving?
I realize that the government is probably operating under guidelines left over from the previous government, but hopefully they will bring some reason, some compassion, to the system. I suspect that the proper medication – delivered in a timely fashion – would be pre-emptive health care, rather than the wrong medication – or no medication – resulting in reactive, and more costly, health-care costs down the road.
Pat Wardell
Kelowna