Escalating medication prices are forcing drug benefit programs worldwide to change their payment policies. Physicians object that this intrudes on their long established authority to prescribe medications they judge best for their patients. This paper reports data from focus groups and a large random sample of seniors in British Columbia who were asked for their views towards Pharmacare's reference based pricing (RBP) policy. Seniors expressed the desire for physicians to be more knowledgeable and more involved in all aspects of medical care including policy changes. They have confidence in physicians as a credible source of information, but they also have as much confidence in pharmacists and almost as much in the Ministry of Health. Seniors overwhelmingly accept, and the majority support government's efforts with their cost-saving Pharmacare policies. Furthermore, those who know more about the policy are more likely to support it. The paper closes with a discussion of the feedback process with decision-makers.
