Liberals need open minds on pharmacare

Canadians can be forgiven if they’re confused and suspicious about the Trudeau government’s plans for a national pharmacare program.

That’s because the Trudeau government itself seems confused and suspicious about this long-hoped-for addition to our public health care system.

Do the Liberals really want it? Or are they simply trying to steal and neutralize a popular New Democratic Party policy? The country needs to know.

In last week’s federal budget, Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced the creation of an “Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare.”

That move, along with the news that Ontario’s former health minister, Eric Hoskins, would spearhead the initiative, suggested there would be a rigorous, open-minded examination of the options for a new drug program followed by a judicious decision on how to proceed.

Such assumptions may be Technicolor daydreams. Just one day after unveiling his budget, Morneau told the audience at the Economic Club of Canada that the Liberals are pulling for something that is “fiscally responsible” and “deals with the gaps but doesn’t throw out the system that we currently have.”

This was the wrong thing to say, for two reasons.

First, it gave the impression that far from wanting a new, universal and, yes, very expensive system for covering Canadians’ prescription drug costs, the Liberals favoured a far more modest approach that helped people who weren’t, for instance, already covered by workplace health benefits.

Second, it convinced many people that this government has made up its mind on pharmacare before the new advisory council has sat down for its first meeting.

Seen in this light, the advisory council resembled a useless, rubber stamp.

Fortunately, by the end of last week Morneau said he was open-minded about the advisory council’s conclusions.

Rather than being a convert to any specific plan, Morneau said he was an “agnostic” on the issue and only wanted to “get Canadians to the position where everyone has access to healthcare.”

Let’s hope these words reflect the real Morneau. The proof, however, lies in what’s to come.

For years, people have called on the federal and provincial governments to ensure Canadians have as much of a right to publicly-supported prescription drugs as they do to publicly-supported hospitals and physicians. For its part, the Ontario government has responded with a program to cover the costs of prescription drugs for everyone under 25. But that’s neither a universal nor national program.

Some studies have concluded a national pharmacare program could actually cost less money to taxpayers than the status quo because governments could buy drugs in bulk and for a cheaper price. Even so, there are reasonable concerns a true, universal program could be prohibitively expensive. So much depends on which drugs are covered.

Canadians don’t have all the answers they need. But neither does the federal government. What it needs to do is let the advisory committee investigate fully and report back with all the options.

No one deserves the last word on pharmacare before a proper discussion has even begun.

... there are reasonable concerns a true, universal program could be prohibitively expensive. So much depends on which drugs are covered.