Feb. 16, 2001
Is it time for an
OPS drug card?
Demand-setting meetings are going ahead in
OPSEU locals across the Ontario Public Service all this month.
Members are talking about what they would like to see in their next
collective agreement. The current one is set to expire Dec. 31,
2001.
At some meetings, members are wondering if it’s
time their benefit plan included a drug card.
Here’s how drug cards work:
- you go your pharmacist to pick up the
insured drugs you need;
you present your card to your
pharmacist;
your pharmacist bills your health
insurance carrier directly; and
you
leave with your drugs.
You don’t have to pay the bill yourself,
fill out a form, attach the receipt, or wait to get reimbursed. You
just pick up your drugs.
OPSEU members in 54 bargaining units outside
the OPS already have a drug card, from the OPSEU Joint Trusteed
Benefit Fund. The fund, started in 1996, now insures the health and
lives of 6,000 people.
The Fund is overseen by a Joint Board of
Trustees with equal numbers of OPSEU and employer representatives
and administered by Maritime Life at a negotiated rate that provides
group insurance at up to 10 per cent less than other plans.
A lot of OPSEU members are looking at ways to
improve the current benefit plan for OPSEU members in the OPS. The
plan could be better - in some cases, a lot better. Coverage levels
for some treatments have not kept pace with rising costs. Other
treatments and remedies are simply not covered.
These are just a few of the many areas that
could be addressed in the upcoming round of collective bargaining:
- The $75 cap on semi-private hospital
coverage is too low. Real costs for semi-private care are more
like $175 to $200 a day in the Toronto area.
- Chronic/convalescent hospital accommodation
does not cover palliative care.
- Hearing aid coverage is currently at $200
for life. Hearing aids cost over $1000 each and generally only
last five or six years. The industry standard is $300-$500 every
five years.
- Naturopathic and homeopathic remedies, as
well as nutritional supplements, are not currently covered.
If your family needs a better benefit plan,
the place to get it is at the bargaining table. The time to start
working towards it is now. If your Local demand-setting meeting hasn’t
happened yet, don’t miss it.
For more information on the OPSEU Joint
Trusteed Benefit Plan, and the coveted drug card, check the OPSEU
web site at http://www.opseu.org/benefit/main.htm.
Get on the list!
Table Talk is published
on our web site at www.opseu.org, but you can also receive it
directly by e-mail or by fax. To do so, e-mail a message to lwilliams@opseu.org
or fax it to Lesley Williams at (416) 443-1762. Please include your
name, e-mail address and/or fax number, correct mailing address and
local number (if you know it), and indicate that you want to be on
the OPS list.
Produced by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, 100 Lesmill Road, Toronto M3B 3P8.
Web: www.opseu.org; e-mail: opseu@opseu.org.
Original authorized for distribution by Leah Casselman, president.
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