Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Pharmacare to cover 120 more generic drugs

From the Winnipeg Free Press:
The Manitoba government will add 120 new generic drugs to be covered under Manitoba's Pharmacare Program , Health Minister Theresa Oswald said Thursday.

The decision, effective March 19, means the province will save about $4 million a year as these generic drugs will replace more costly prescription medication. The province already covers more than 1,950 drugs under the Pharmacare system. For a complete list of approved drugs go to www.gov.mb.ca/health/mdbif/.

Pharmacare assists patients with the cost of prescription drugs by covering all bills for them after an income-based deductible.

In a release Oswald said the generic drug cost savings are substantial. For example, generic blood pressure medication Ramipril costs about half as much as prescription drug Altace; Altace costs about $33.60 a month while Ramipril only $19.95.

Tory health critic Kelvin Goertzen said the province could save even more money be creating a speedier approval process for generic drugs -- drugs already approved by Health Canada. ...more

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