Planning a pharmacare program for the Northwest Territories ...

• Main Author: Pontus, Michael Stephen
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2010
• Subjects: Northwest Territories
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0094945; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0094945

The Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly in March of 1979, recommended that the Government of the Northwest Territories introduce a Pharmacare program for Senior Citizens on July 1, 1979. The Northwest Territories has a population of 46,400 people, spread through 59 settlements and over 3,379,500 square kilometers. Senior Citizens account for 2.8% of the population. The problem faced in the introduction of the program was that it also required consolidation of three existing programs. Rather than offer a universal program, the Territorial Government chose a program for those residents age 65 and over to complement the existing programs, specifically the one in the Department of Health which covers prescription drugs for twelve defined illnesses. The Government did so without introducing Pharmacare legislation but rather through a financial appropriation of the Finance Legislation. This left the final definition of policy planning and program introduction in the hands of bureaucrats. The planning of the ...