Ontario’s first balanced budget in decade promises billions in health care
TORONTO — Ontario’s Liberal government is promising to inject billions of new dollars into health care in its first balanced budget in a decade, a fiscal plan designed to appeal to nearly everyone in the province ahead of an election next summer.
Crafted by a party in power since 2003 that has been faring poorly in recent polls, the $141-billion budget tabled Thursday has measures targeted at both young and old, people who access the health-care system and anyone who owns or rents a home and pays an electricity bill.
The centrepiece of the plan is a $465-million-a-year pharmacare program for children and youth, which would cover prescription medications to treat most acute and common chronic conditions for people 24 and under, with no deductible or co-payment. It would start Jan. 1.
The plan will be most beneficial for youth who currently are not covered under private plans or the Ontario Drug Benefit program for social assistance recipients, but government officials weren’t able to say how many people that captures.