NANAIMO - A Nanaimo woman says she and other sick people on fixed incomes are being ripped off by the Ministry of Health.

Molly Armstrong is a cancer survivor and former nurse who says she's being charged a full year's pharmacare deductible - even though there's only 2 months left in the year.

Molly Armstrong's life is turning back around - she has a new apartment and after 10 years of health problems, she's finally starting to feel healthy again.

This 62 year old cancer survivor still has to take a lot of medication for diabetes and asthma among other health issues, so pharmacare is a need she can't afford to be without.

Her problems with pharmacare started when she was accepted into the SAFER program - a housing subsidization program for seniors.  Her living situation improved drastically over the bachelor suite she had before, but for some reason, she had to re-apply for medicare and pharmacare.

She received a letter from Fair Pharmacare Assistance that says she has to pay the full year's deductible.

Armstrong says she's contacted the Ministry of Health numerous times over the past week, but keeps getting the same answer - It's policy.

Molly Armstrong - who is a former critical care nurse, thinks she's not the only one being ripped off.

She did receive a call from the ministry Monday morning. 

They told her they'd be looking into the problem.  And Health Minister Kevin Falcon told us his ministry is looking into the case and will be calling Molly Armstrong to try and find a solution.

And she says that if her health wasn't bouncing back the way it is, she simply wouldn't have the fight in her - which she says is the case for many low income sick people.