Again it becomes obvious that if one is 65 and over they are of no use to government. In fact, not only are they of no use, they are suddenly nothing more than an annoyance and a drain on provincial funding. Enter the gouging  Pharmacare program:

Nova Scotia seniors paid about $2.5 million more than was needed to run the Pharmacare program last year but shouldn’t expect refunds, says the province’s deputy health minister.

http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1057386.html

I am so sick of hearing this crap. We in Nova Scotia are celebrating an important anniversary - 250 years of democracy in Canada. It's too bad that democracy died a long time ago and was replaced by fascism.

"Revenue-neutral"....the latest catch phrase.

Why should seniors have to pay anything for their meds? Haven't they paid their dues including countless tax dollars all their lives?

As far as seniors needing fewer drugs than forecast...ever consider that they've cut back intentionally because they couldn't afford them?

Another reason why they may have used fewer drugs than forecast - perhaps they've gotten smart and are beginning to refuse medications prescribed to them for no other reason then they are seniors and *should* be on them.

Think I'm off-base? Two seniors in my own family - my mother and my father-in-law have "doctors" who want them on blood pressure medication. Neither one of them have a problem with their BP. Their docs say "just in case". Just in case what? Just in case the pharmaceutical company gets a bit short on cash?

They're seniors Oogie....to many "doctors", seniors don't know what's good for them. Thank god my mother is just like me and my father-in-law is learning.

Believe it or not there are still way too many people who look at their doctors and see god almighty. And way too many doctors who expect it.

Did I say that? That doctors can do no right? Hell no I didn't. Just because they saved you when you were a kid doesn't mean that by default all their colleagues are just as wonderful. Just because they saved me last summer doesn't mean that all their colleagues are saviours as well.

There's bad apples in every barrel Oogie and that includes the medical barrel.

There is no innocent desire for safety in a doctor prescribing a medication unnecessarily. Or prescribing a medication just because of the patient's age and the possibility that they might develop hypertension in the future. Unnecessary prescribing is rampant in our senior population, a group of people who react in different ways to many meds then non-seniors.  This is not "erring on the side of caution"...it is absolutely irresponsible on the doctor's part.

As far as medical malpractice suits are concerned, they are a lot more common in the US than here. Try even finding an attorney willing to take on the medical establishment...

It is our responsibility as a patient to insist upon a partnership with our physicians. Alas, way too many physicians continue to demand a dictatorship.

I expected something much more erotic when I read the title of this thread and nearly spilt my tea.

No more misleading thread titles please.

Complete nonsense.

Not 'complete" nonsense Oogie. Many prescription drugs are indeed no better than poison. Way too many doctors prescribe unnecessarily and those drugs are poison to those people.