Nova Scotia government promises clarity on drug plan premium changes

The highest ranking civil servant in Nova Scotia's Health Department is promising to release later today information the department has refused to make public for almost two weeks.

Peter Vaughan, the deputy minister of health, made the promise after being grilled by opposition politicians about the secrecy surrounding changes to the provincial drug plan for seniors.

The changes were announced on Jan. 15. At the time reporters asked for, but never received, a total for the amount of money the changes would generate.

Most seniors will pay same or less

Although the government has said repeatedly most plan members would pay the same or less in premiums, starting April 1, about 40,000 of the plan's 120,000 members will pay more.

At Wednesday's public accounts committee meeting, NDP and Progressive ConservativeMLAs asked Vaughan repeatedly about the net impact of those changes on the plan's bottom line. He refused.

He said it was too complex a number to generate, given the number of factors that play into the formula.

Outside the legislature chamber, Vaughan denied he was withholding the information.

"There's absolutely no secrecy around numbers that are moving constantly," he told reporters.

"If we knew exactly how many people were going to be enrolled, exactly the price of drugs, we could give you a number. There is no secrecy. It's a moving target."

The Department of Health said later Wednesday that Vaughan would try and release the information by the end of the day.

'That is bollocks'

But the deputy minister's earlier comments drew a sharp rebuke from former NDP health minister and interim party leader Maureen MacDonald.

"That is bollocks," she said. "I've never heard so much BS in all my life. And I've heard a fair amount in my 18 years here."

Tim Houston, a Progressive Conservative committee member, offered this possible explanation for the stonewalling.

"It's clear that the changes to the seniors' pharmacare plan are designed to bring in more revenue," he said.

"It's going to cost seniors, on balance, more and I can't for the life of me understand why the government just won't tell us how much more."