About 60 per cent of Alberta's seniors will see their prescription drug costs lowered or eliminated starting in January 2010, but others will pay more, Alberta Health announced Monday.

Single seniors with an annual income of less than $21,325 and senior families with an annual combined income below $42,650 will not have to pay for medication.

But other seniors who have high incomes will pay more for drug coverage.

'It is not our philosophy as government that everyone should be subsidized across the board the same.'

—Ron Liepert, Alberta health minister

Deductibles will be based on a sliding scale and the highest earners could pay up to $7,500 a year if they have high medication costs.

Alberta Health Minister Ron Liepert said the change will make the system fairer to everyone.

"We have a philosophy in government that we need to — and it's our responsibility to — ensure that those who can't afford it or don't have it, that there are programs in place by government," he said.

"It is not our philosophy as government that everyone should be subsidized across the board the same."

Alberta residents who pay the province for drug coverage will see premiums jump to $82 a month starting in July 2009, then up to $118 a month starting a year later, in July 2010.

Liepert said the rates had not been reviewed since the program was introduced in 1993, and the small number of Albertans who use this kind of coverage had been paying considerably less.

"I'd say they've been getting a real good deal because if they were part of a group plan that had deductible off their pay, they would have been paying for the past number of years significantly more for the same coverage that they've been receiving," he said.

Seniors advocate worried

The new plan did not draw rave reviews from Noel Somerville, an advocate for seniors. The chairman of the seniors task force for Public Interest Alberta applauded the move to make prescription drugs free for low-income seniors, but he's worried about some retirees on fixed incomes.

"They keep on punching holes on the whole universality of everything to do with prescription drugs, health care, all the rest. There has been a universal system for seniors up until now," he said.

"All of these people have been paying into drug plans throughout their working lives and now the rules get changed."

The government will eliminate a $25 co-payment per prescription starting Jan. 1, 2010.

Alberta Health will also introduce a program where a panel will consider requests for coverage of high drug costs for people suffering from rare diseases resulting from genetic disorders. This coverage would apply only to people who have lived in the province for five years or more.

Drug plans under five government ministries will be replaced by a single plan, with a common drug list.

With files from the Canadian Press