I might be more confused than normal this week, but I come by it honestly – I had the opportunity to interview a member of our provincial cabinet.
These seasoned politicians have the art of double speak and PR spinning down to a science and Health Minister Deb Matthews was no exception.
With well rehearsed (and well repeated) catch phrases, the Minister defended her government’s intentions of eliminating professional allowances (PAs) for pharmacists and staunchly argued that the pending legislation is good for everyone concerned, including disgruntled pharmacists.
After a Ministry spokesperson spent about 20 minutes giving the 10 or so journalists on the line background information, Minister Matthews joined us for some ‘Q & A’. Well, it would be more accurate to say she joined us for some questions, I’m not sure how many answers were actually provided.
After I asked her why the government isn’t tackling the costs of brand name drugs considering they make up 75 per cent of all prescription orders, the Minister spent almost five minutes doing a tap dance of which Sammy Davis Jr. himself would be proud.
Finally near the end of her reply, she said they had addressed that issue back in 2006. ‘Not very well’ I replied given the disparities. But she said they were “fixing the system”.
She didn’t seem fazed when she couldn’t answer most of our questions, such as which services would be billable and at what rate or what will constitute a ‘rural pharmacy’. And she doesn’t seem to understand the potential impact this reform will have on smaller pharmacies.
Like most times when governments want to make changes, they seem to pursue it at full speed, without having the plan fully worked out. What’s the rush?
At least aspirins don’t cost too much. For after Monday’s ‘interview’ I sure needed a couple.