A Fredericton woman is fighting for the provincial government to cover the cost of her prosthetic eyes, which she says are essential to her mental and physical health.
Cheryl Gillespie was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis at the age of two. The disease spread to her eyes and left her blind. Both eyes had to be removed.
Gillespie says her ocular prosthetics are even more important as she interacts with children on a daily basis.
"I've been teaching piano lessons for going on 30 years, and I've worked hard to establish that,” she says. “I would hate to see that end because I could no longer have prosthetic eyes."
Gillespie says each prosthetic eye costs $2,000 and need to be replaced every five years. She says the Liberal government only covers the cost for those under the age of 18.
"I committed to review that policy, that review is not complete yet,” said New Brunswick Health Minister Victor Boudreau. “Basically what I asked staff is, ‘What is being done in other jurisdictions?’"
In Nova Scotia, the government pays for a portion of a prosthetic eye, but only from one approved location in Dartmouth. If the eye is $2,500, they would cover just under $1,600 of that.
Gillespie says without the prosthetics, she would end up being housebound and not contributing to her community.
"It just seems like one of those things that you would see at Halloween, something with no eyes in their head," she says.
Gillespie says government has generally been “cold and insensitive” towards her situation. And because of her arthritis, she doesn't qualify for private insurance.
The opposition is introducing a motion on Thursday asking that a co-pay system be introduced, similar to Nova Scotia’s.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Laura Brown.
