Loading ...

By TONI WHITE and MARIANA WINZER
Staff  Writers

With the drastic changes Ontario has seen as of late due to Premier Doug Ford taking power, the younger generation is on its toes as the changes the Liberals made earlier this year are about to be re-evaluated once again.

On Jan. 1, 2018, the province made the biggest expansion to Medicare in Ontario with a new drug plan called OHIP+ by providing drug coverage to more than four million children and youth across the province.

Ford’s upcoming plan suggests that OHIP+ will not cover free prescriptions for young adults under 25 with private health insurance. This is meant to save Ontario’s government billions per year.

Examples of the publicly funded prescriptions included are depression and anxiety medications, insulin and diabetic test strips, antibiotics, asthma inhalers and birth control pills.

Many different published articles suggest that this new OHIP+ plan will hurt the middle class because those covered under private insurance will not receive help from the government if prescriptions get too costly and out of their insurance plan budget.

“It’s very unreasonable to take away something that helps people,” says Darryl Sourwine, a Niagara College student who may be affected by the pending changes to OHIP+.

One of the main concerns, and what has been making Ontario so uneasy, is that the Ford government’s press release did not contain the key information that further explains the changes that will be made.

For the time being OHIP+ will remain the same until further notice.