Health Minister John Hogan says federal funding will help more people access expensive drugs that treat rare diseases. (Danny Arsenault/CBC)

The federal government is giving $47 million to Newfoundland and Labrador to increase the wages for home-care support workers and cover some of the costs for expensive drugs that treat rare diseases

The funding announcement was made Friday, and includes $22 million to improve access to medicines as well as early diagnosis and screening.

“Rare diseases affect fewer than one in 2,000 people, and the cost of drug therapies can range from $100,000 to more than $1 million per person. Our province already has a good track record for providing access to drugs for rare diseases,” Health Minister John Hogan said.

“I’m happy to say that this agreement will let us remove the family income threshold of $150,000 for support for these extremely expensive medications.”

Going forward, he said, an applicant with a net income of $75,000 will only have to pay 10 per cent of their net income toward the drugs through the National Strategy for Rare Diseases.

“This will, of course, ease financial burdens for individuals and their families and allow them to get the care that they need,” said Hogan.

Boosting hourly wage

The second part of the funding agreement is $25 million over five years to increase wages for 6,000 agency-based home-care support workers.

Hogan said those workers will see their hourly wage increase from $17.05 to $21.05.

“It is a well deserved wage increase for the dedicated home support workers in our province. And we hope that it will encourage anyone interested in joining this field to pursue their rewarding career,” he said.

St. John’s East MP Joanne Thompson said supporting home care workers helps many people.

“We know that by strengthening supports for home support workers, we are helping individuals and their families,” she said. “We’re strengthening our health-care workforce, we’re improving the quality of life for vulnerable populations.”

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