Hector Hinkley says the chemotherapy drug Temodol is keeping him alive. (CBC file)

A call centre in Port Hawkesbury, N.S., is chopping health benefits as a cost-cutting move, forcing one family to handle a $30,000 bill for cancer drugs on its own.

Hector Hinkley remembers the day his wife, Laura, found out that her employer was capping what it pays for prescriptions.

"She went into work and 20 minutes later she was back," he said. "She was crying."

Hector has brain cancer and hasn't been able to work. For two years he's been taking Temodol, a drug he credits for shrinking his brain tumour.

Nova Scotia only pays for Temodol for six months. The Hinkleys were struggling to cover the $30,000 a year it costs for the pills until the spring, when they found out Laura's employer, Minacs, would pay the bill.

But now Minacs is capping its drug coverage at $4,000 a year. The company blames the recession for its cost-cutting move.

"I told her, 'That's it. I'll come off them for a while, see how it works out,'" said Hector.

The Hinkleys said they're not the only ones hit hard by the cut in health benefits.

"There's people there that have diabetic children, diabetics who have cancer. There's people there that need drug coverage and we no longer have it," said Laura.

Cut jobs or benefits

Minacs isn't the only company cutting health benefits, says one benefits consulting company that advises large corporations.

Michelle Boisvert, a representative for Watson Wyatt, said 10 per cent of its clients are looking at significant cuts to employee health benefits because of the economic downturn.

"It's choices that the HR departments have to make. If they have to find $1 million or $2 million in savings, it's either cutting jobs or cutting benefits," said Boisvert.

Whatever the reason, Hector worries the consequences for him could be deadly.

"I have no choices," he said. "If I can get that hemp oil, I'll try that."