Critics say two recent moves by the Alberta government put many seniors’ health at risk.
The government has raised the amount individual seniors will have to co-pay for prescriptions under the Coverage For Seniors plan. It has also limited which groups will be eligible for free Covid-19 vaccinations.
The co-payment for prescriptions, which had been capped at $25 per month, will increase by one dollar per month between now and April 2026. By next spring, seniors will be paying up to $35 per month for every prescription.
The province says the move is necessary because of rising costs. The last increase in co-pay amounts was 31 years ago, in 1994. According to a government news release, if the co-pay had kept pace with inflation it would already be approximately $48.
“Drug coverage costs are rising, and we need to take steps to address the cost,” said Adriana LaGrange, Minister of Primary and Preventative Health Services. “This change will help keep those costs in check, maintain a fair and balanced cost sharing approach, and allow the government to continue offering this important coverage.”
The Alberta NDP’s health critic Sarah Hoffman describes the change as “bad news” for struggling seniors.
“Increasing the cost of medications doesn’t improve health care or make things more affordable – it does the exact opposite,” Hoffman said.
“In the end seniors’ health will suffer, they will need more care because they can’t afford medication, and the added strain on the entire health-care system will impact all Albertans.”
Meanwhile, the province is restricting who will be eligible for free Covid-19 vaccinations, requiring some Albertans to pay as much as $110 per dose if they want the shot.
Seniors in supportive-living residences and those receiving home care are among those who will be eligible for the free shot, as will low-income Albertans and some others. Health-care workers and seniors not living in supportive facilities are not eligible.
As of April 1, the federal government is no longer paying for the vaccines. La Grange said Albertans have not been getting the vaccination in the numbers the government was prepared for, and more than half of their 2023-24 supply—roughly a million doses—was wasted.
At an estimated $110 per dose, that amounts to $135 million in wasted vaccines.
In coming phases of the government’s new covid vaccination policy, the shots will no longer be available at commercial neighbourhood pharmacies. They will be administered at public health clinics.
The Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) says charging for the vaccine and taking it out of the hands of community pharmacies are potentially harmful to seniors.
CARP’s 2025 member survey shows that 93 per cent of their Alberta members have had the shot in the past two years, and 90 per cent of those got the vaccine from their pharmacist. A majority of CARP members report that they receive their vaccine education from pharmacists, not from public agencies.
“This is a clear sign that government communication is falling short and that Albertans trust their pharmacists,” said Anthony Quinn, CARP’s Chief Operating Officer. “Instead of reducing access, we should be empowering the very professionals who are keeping our community healthy.”
He added that requiring older adults, especially those on fixed incomes, to pay out-of-pocket is “a major barrier for those at greatest risk for infection.”
“Just a few years after the devastating toll Covid-19 took on our seniors, it’s unconscionable to scale back access to the very protection that helped save lives,” Quinn said.
