All Ontario children and adults younger than the age of 25 will have their full prescription drug costs covered by a new provincial pharmacare program from the Liberal government.
As the CBC reports, the new pharmacare program would ensure full prescription drugs costs for anyone under the age of 25, regardless of family income or whether they already have private insurance. The program is the Liberal government's first step to a national pharmacare plan and essentially offers the same taxpayer-funded drug coverage received by seniors, and welfare recipients.
Under the plan, parents, teens and young adults would simply present their OHIP cards with their prescriptions from a doctor and no cash will exchange hands at the pharmacy counter, officials said. There are no co-payments or deductibles.
The move comes as part of the provincial budget package and is estimated to cost the province a whopping $465 million a year.
If it's approved, the program could roll out as soon as January 2018 and would end up covering 4,400 drugs for Ontario's four million children and young adults.
