Health ministers secure federal support to study universal pharmacare program
EDMONTO N Canada’s provincial and territorial health ministers announced Friday they have federal support to explore the feasibility of a national universal pharmacare program for prescription drugs.
The initiative commits the respective governments to jointly research how a pharmacare program might work, including potential costs, timelines to implement and how far the program should go to expand access to drugs.
The announcement came on the final day of two days of meetings among provincial and territorial health ministers in Edmonton. Federal Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor joined her counterparts Friday.
“Are they agreeing to fund pharmacare? No,” Alberta Health Minister Sarah Hoffman said. “But we were talking about increasing access for all Canadians and they were willing to be partners in that conversation. So it’s a step in the right direction.”
Last summer, premiers at the Council of the Federation called on their health ministers to study the pharmacare concept to eventually present some options to the federal government.
Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins, who has been one of the chief political proponents of phar- macare, said getting Ottawa’s collaboration for that research is vital to ensure the project is productive.
Both Hoskins and Hoffman said they view the pharmacare concept as a fulfilment of the original con- cept of medicare in Canada.
“One thing I want to ensure is that the federal government is an absolute partner if we are going to move in this direction…,” Hoffman said. Quebec Health Minister Gaetan Barrette called the concept an “interesting idea” that will likely be expensive to implement.
“It is ... quite clear that we in Canada pay too much for medications,” Barrette said. “But whatever initiative we might put forward … might generate savings in society that do not necessarily generate savings in government.”
Patient groups have frequently complained about rising prescription costs, which are also a major cost for the provinces. There has been considerable debate as to what a national pharmacare system might look like, though it is often envisioned as a system that would put all Canadians on essentially the same drug plan that provides cheap or even free medications.